Sample records for standard congruency effect

Congruencyeffects in distracter interference tasks are often smaller after incongruent trials than after congruent trials. However, the sources of such congruency sequence effects (CSEs) are controversial. The conflict monitoring model of cognitive control links CSEs to the detection and resolution of response conflict. In contrast, competing theories attribute CSEs to attentional or affective processes that vary with previous-trial congruency (incongruent vs. congruent). The present study s...

Full Text Available These days cell phone, as the modern instrument has various, cheap, and user-friendly accessories and possibilities. As a result SMS is now one of the most important media used in different situations. In this study, the SMS was analyzed from a linguistic point of view. Using the content analysis method, the grammatical and semantic congruence of the short-messages with standard Persian was examined. Furthermore, the SMS content (quotations, love messages, empathy and greetings, ironies, and jokes and language (Persian, English, Pinglish were studied. For this purpose, 1795 SMSs were received and analyzed during the first half of 2007. The analysis and comparison of the SMSs showed that there is still no specific, uniform language used in their writing. The results showed that though the general tendency is to write in Persian, many SMSs are written in Pinglish.

Proportion congruencyeffects represent hallmark phenomena in current theorizing about cognitive control. This is based on the notion that proportion congruency determines the relative levels of attention to relevant and irrelevant information in conflict tasks. However, little empirical evidence exists that uniquely supports such an attention…

The analysis of speech error corpora in various gender-marked languages has shown that noun substitutions tend to preserve grammatical gender. This result has been taken as an indication that grammatical gender could play a constraining role during the process of lexical selection. To gain insights on the status of grammatical gender in the speech production system, we discuss this hypothesis and we report three picture naming experiments. We attempted to observe gender-marked context effects in the course of error-free speech production. Participants named pictures shortly after processing a prime that was or was not gender marked and that was or was not congruent with the name of the picture. A clear congruencyeffect was observed, involving both facilitation in the gender congruent conditions and inhibition in gender incongruent conditions. Different interpretations of this effect and of previously reported gender context effects are discussed in the context of current models of speech production. Copyright 2004 Elsevier B.V.

Full Text Available Learning takes time, namely, one needs to be exposed to contingency relations between stimulus dimensions in order to learn, whereas intentional control can be recruited through task demands. Therefore showing that control can be recruited as a function of experimental instructions alone, that is, adapting the processing according to the instructions before the exposure to the task, can be taken as evidence for existence of control recruitment in the absence of learning. This was done by manipulating the information given at the outset of the experiment. In the first experiment, we manipulated list-level congruency proportion. Half of the participants were informed that most of the stimuli would be congruent, whereas the other half were informed that most of the stimuli would be incongruent. This held true for the stimuli in the second part of each experiment. In the first part, however, the proportion of the two stimulus types was equal. A proportion congruent effect was found in both parts of the experiment, but it was larger in the second part. In our second experiment, we manipulated the proportion of the stimuli within participants by applying an item-specific design. This was done by presenting some color words most often in their congruent color, and other color words in incongruent colors. Participants were informed about the exact word-color pairings in advance. Similar to Experiment 1, this held true only for the second experimental part. In contrast to our first experiment, informing participants in advance did not result in an item-specific proportion effect, which was observed only in the second part. Thus our results support the hypothesis that instructions may be enough to trigger list-level control, yet learning does contribute to the proportion congruent effect under such conditions. The item-level proportion effect is apparently caused by learning or at least it is moderated by it.

This paper proposes that voters are more likely to turn out at elections if candidates and parties address their issue concerns in the election campaign. Voters with high levels of congruence in policy priorities should perceive the campaign as more interesting and the election as more relevant....... In addition, the costs associated with the vote choice should be lower if voters' policy priorities are salient. The effect should be weakened by party identification, which acts both as a mobilising force and as a heuristic to the vote choice, making information costs less detrimental to turnout...

Taking a multiple-stakeholder perspective, we examined the effects of supervisor-work group trust congruence on groups' task and contextual performance using a polynomial regression and response surface analytical framework. We expected motivation experienced by work groups to mediate the positive influence of trust congruence on performance. Although hypothesized congruenceeffects on performance were more strongly supported for affective rather than for cognitive trust, we found significant indirect effects on performance (via work group motivation) for both types of trust. We discuss the performance effects of trust congruence and incongruence between supervisors and work groups, as well as implications for practice and future research. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Full Text Available Congruency sequence effects (CSEs refer to the observation that congruencyeffects in conflict tasks are typically smaller following incongruent compared to following congruent trials. This measure has long been thought to provide a unique window into top-down attentional adjustments and their underlying brain mechanisms. According to the renowned conflict monitoring theory, CSEs reflect enhanced selective attention following conflict detection. Still, alternative accounts suggested that bottom-up associative learning suffices to explain the pattern of reaction times and error rates. A couple of years ago, a review by Egner (2007 pitted these two rivalry accounts against each other, concluding that both conflict adaptation and feature integration contribute to the CSE. Since then, a wealth of studies has further debated this issue, and two additional accounts have been proposed, offering intriguing alternative explanations. Contingency learning accounts put forward that predictive relationships between stimuli and responses drive the CSE, whereas the repetition expectancy hypothesis suggests that top-down, expectancy-driven control adjustments affect the CSE. In the present paper, we build further on the previous review (Egner, 2007 by summarizing and integrating recent behavioural and neurophysiological studies on the CSE. In doing so, we evaluate the relative contribution and theoretical value of the different attentional and memory-based accounts. Moreover, we review how all of these influences can be experimentally isolated, and discuss designs and procedures that can critically judge between them.

Purpose: To examine effects of a teaching intervention on precise delineation of the prostate and rectum during planning of three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT) for prostate cancer. Methods and Materials: A pretest, posttest, randomized controlled group design was used. During pretest all participants contoured prostate and rectum on planning CT. Afterward, they participated in two types of workshops. The experimental group engaged in an interactive teaching session focused on prostate and rectum MR anatomy compared with CT anatomy. The control group focused on 3D-CRT planning without mention of prostate or rectal contouring. The experimental group practiced on fused MR-CT images, whereas the control group practiced on CT images. All participants completed the posttest. Results: Thirty-one trainees (12 male, 19 female) were randomly assigned to two groups, 17 in the experimental arm, and 14 in the control group. Seventeen felt familiar or very familiar with pelvic organ contouring, 12 somewhat, and 2 had never done it. Thirteen felt confident with organ contouring, 13 somewhat, and 5 not confident. The demographics and composition of groups were analyzed with χ 2 and repeated-measures analysis of variance with the two groups (experimental or control) and two tests (pre- or posttest) as factors. Satisfaction with the course and long-term effects of the course on practice were assessed with immediate and delayed surveys. All performance variables showed a similar pattern of results. Conclusions: The training sessions improved the technical performance similarly in both groups. Participants were satisfied with the course content, and the delayed survey reflected that cognitively participants felt more confident with prostate and rectum contouring and would investigate opportunities to learn more about organ contouring.

This research addresses effects of congruence of symbolic meanings connoted through product shape and typeface design on brand perceptions and price expectations. Based on processing fluency accounts, it is predicted that shape-typeface congruence, as opposed to shape-typeface incongruence,

Discusses Carl Rogers' definitions of congruence, and identifies four specific requirements for the concept and practice of therapeutic congruence. Examines the interface between congruence and the other necessary and sufficient conditions of change, drawing on examples from practice. (JPS)

The study of joint congruency at the glenohumeral joint of the shoulder using computed tomography (CT) and three-dimensional (3D) reconstructions of joint surfaces is an area of significant clinical interest. However, ionizing radiation delivered to patients during CT examinations is much higher than other types of radiological imaging. The shoulder represents a significant challenge for this modality as it is adjacent to the thyroid gland and breast tissue. The objective of this study was to determine the optimal CT scanning techniques that would minimize radiation dose while accurately quantifying joint congruency of the shoulder. The results suggest that only one-tenth of the standard applied total current (mA) and a pitch ratio of 1.375:1 was necessary to produce joint congruency values consistent with that of the higher dose scans. Using the CT scanning techniques examined in this study, the effective dose applied to the shoulder to quantify joint congruency was reduced by 88.9% compared to standard clinical CT imaging techniques.

Recent research on cognitive control has focused on the learning consequences of high selective attention demands in selective attention tasks (e.g., Botvinick, Cognit Affect Behav Neurosci 7(4):356-366, 2007; Verguts and Notebaert, Psychol Rev 115(2):518-525, 2008). The current study extends these ideas by examining the influence of selective attention demands on remembering. In Experiment 1, participants read aloud the red word in a pair of red and green spatially interleaved words. Half of the items were congruent (the interleaved words had the same identity), and the other half were incongruent (the interleaved words had different identities). Following the naming phase, participants completed a surprise recognition memory test. In this test phase, recognition memory was better for incongruent than for congruent items. In Experiment 2, context was only partially reinstated at test, and again recognition memory was better for incongruent than for congruent items. In Experiment 3, all of the items contained two different words, but in one condition the words were presented close together and interleaved, while in the other condition the two words were spatially separated. Recognition memory was better for the interleaved than for the separated items. This result rules out an interpretation of the congruencyeffects on recognition in Experiments 1 and 2 that hinges on stronger relational encoding for items that have two different words. Together, the results support the view that selective attention demands for incongruent items lead to encoding that improves recognition.

The aim of this study is to test the "work values" inventory developed by Tevruz and Turgut and to utilize the concept in a model, which aims to create a greater understanding of the work experience. In the study multiple effects of work values, work-value congruence and work centrality on organizational citizenship behavior are examined. In this respect, it is hypothesized that work values and work-value congruence predict organizational citizenship behavior through work...

Performance is impaired when a distracting stimulus is incongruent with the target stimulus (e.g., "green" printed in red). This congruencyeffect is decreased when the proportion of incongruent trials is increased, termed the proportion congruent effect. This effect is typically interpreted in terms of the adaptation of attention in…

Perception of object continuity depends on establishing correspondence between objects viewed across disruptions in visual information. The role of spatiotemporal information in guiding object continuity is well documented; the role of surface features, however, is controversial. Some researchers have shown an object-specific preview benefit (OSPB)-a standard index of object continuity-only when correspondence could be based on an object's spatiotemporal information, whereas others have found color-based OSPB, suggesting that surface features can also guide object continuity. This study shows that surface feature-based OSPB is dependent on the task memory demands. When the task involved letters and matching just one target letter to the preview ones, no color congruencyeffect was found under spatiotemporal discontinuity and spatiotemporal ambiguity (Experiments 1-3), indicating that the absence of feature-based OSPB cannot be accounted for by salient spatiotemporal discontinuity. When the task involved complex shapes and matching two target shapes to the preview ones, color-based OSPB was obtained. Critically, however, when a visual working memory task was performed concurrently with the matching task, the presence of a nonspatial (but not a spatial) working memory load eliminated the color-based OSPB (Experiments 4 and 5). These results suggest that the surface feature congruencyeffects that are observed in the object-reviewing paradigm (with the matching task) reflect memory-based strategies that participants use to solve a memory-demanding task; therefore, they are not reliable measures of online object continuity and cannot be taken as evidence for the role of surface features in establishing object correspondence.

The item-specific proportion congruency (ISPC) effect is the finding of attenuated interference for mostly incongruent as compared to mostly congruent items. A debate in the Stroop literature concerns the mechanisms underlying this effect. Noting a confound between proportion congruency and contingency, Schmidt and Besner (2008) suggested that…

and news media content data from the 2009 German Longitudinal Election Study. The results show that citizens whose issue concerns are salient amongst party candidates and in the media campaign coverage are indeed more satisfied with democracy in their country. This effect exists not only for congruence...

In the Stroop task, participants identify the print color of color words. The congruencyeffect is the observation that response times and errors are increased when the word and color are incongruent (e.g., the word "red" in green ink) relative to when they are congruent (e.g., "red" in red). The proportion congruent (PC) effect is the finding that congruencyeffects are reduced when trials are mostly incongruent rather than mostly congruent. This PC effect can be context-specific. For instance, if trials are mostly incongruent when presented in one location and mostly congruent when presented in another location, the congruencyeffect is smaller for the former location. Typically, PC effects are interpreted in terms of strategic control of attention in response to conflict, termed conflict adaptation or conflict monitoring. In the present manuscript, however, an episodic learning account is presented for context-specific proportion congruent (CSPC) effects. In particular, it is argued that context-specific contingency learning can explain part of the effect, and context-specific rhythmic responding can explain the rest. Both contingency-based and temporal-based learning can parsimoniously be conceptualized within an episodic learning framework. An adaptation of the Parallel Episodic Processing model is presented. This model successfully simulates CSPC effects, both for contingency-biased and contingency-unbiased (transfer) items. The same fixed-parameter model can explain a range of other findings from the learning, timing, binding, practice, and attentional control domains.

Benevolent leadership, a traditional Chinese leadership style generated under the influence of Confucianism, has been under growing discussion since its proposal. However, existing research has focused mainly on the consequences of benevolent leadership, and research probing into its antecedents is scarce. To fill such research gap, the current study aims to explore the effect of the congruence between implicit positive followership prototype (PFP) and explicit positive followership trait (PF...

Three studies investigate the moderating role of divided attention in the relationship between thematic (in)congruency between a web page and a web ad, and evaluations of and click intentions towards the embedded web ad. The first study establishes the traditional priming effect in sequential web page - web ad exposure. Study two manipulates viewers' opportunity to divide their attention when simultaneously exposed to a web page and a web ad, and study three measures divided attention by mea...

and news media content data from the 2009 German Longitudinal Election Study. The results show that citizens whose issue concerns are salient amongst party candidates and in the media campaign coverage are indeed more satisfied with democracy in their country. This effect exists not only for congruence......There is widespread agreement that better policy representation increases citizens’ satisfaction with democracy. Previous research on this topic has generally focused on ideological congruence between citizens and representatives. In this article, it is argued that public–elite agreement on policy...... priorities is another essential aspect of policy representation, but has been largely overlooked in this context. Citizens whose issue concerns are higher on elites’ agendas should be more satisfied with the functioning of democracy. This hypothesis is tested by linking voter survey data to candidate survey...

Although direct-to-consumer (DTC) prescription drug advertising is regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, content analyses suggest advertisers may not disclose drug risks in the same way they describe drug benefits. This study tests the relationship between image congruency in televised DTC advertisements, recall of risks/benefits, and perceived persuasiveness. Advertisements for Nasonex, Advair, and Lunesta were shown to college students in either their original (image incongruent) or modified (image neutral) form. Risks were easier to recall with image-neutral advertisements. Gender also had a significant interaction effect, suggesting that males and females process DTC advertisement differently.

We examine the effect of (in)congruence between leaders' and teams' power distance values on team effectiveness. We hypothesize that the (in)congruence between these values would differentially predict team effectiveness, with procedural justice climate serving as a mediator. Using multisource data and polynomial regression, we found that similarities (and differences) between leaders' and their teams' power distance values can have consequential effects on teams' justice climate and, ultimately, their effectiveness (viz., team performance and team organizational citizenship behavior). We conclude that to fully understand the implications of power distance, one should consider the multiple perspectives of both leaders and team members. (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Full Text Available Over the last two decades, the congruency sequence effect (CSE -the finding of a reduced congruencyeffect following incongruent trials in conflict tasks- has played a central role in advancing research on cognitive control. According to the influential conflict-monitoring account, the CSE reflects adjustments in selective attention that enhance task focus when needed, often termed conflict adaptation. However, this dominant interpretation of the CSE has been called into question by several alternative accounts that stress the role of episodic memory processes: feature binding and (stimulus-response contingency learning. To evaluate the notion of conflict adaptation in accounting for the CSE, we construed versions of three widely used experimental paradigms (the colour-word Stroop, picture-word Stroop and flanker task that effectively control for feature binding and contingency learning. Results revealed that a CSE can emerge in all three tasks. This strongly suggests a contribution of attentional control to the CSE and highlights the potential of these unprecedentedly clean paradigms for further examining cognitive control.

Benevolent leadership, a traditional Chinese leadership style generated under the influence of Confucianism, has been under growing discussion since its proposal. However, existing research has focused mainly on the consequences of benevolent leadership, and research probing into its antecedents is scarce. To fill such research gap, the current study aims to explore the effect of the congruence between implicit positive followership prototype (PFP) and explicit positive followership trait (PFT) on benevolent leadership. Polynomial regression combined with the response surface methodology was used to test the hypotheses herein. The results, based on a sample of 241 leader-follower dyads from four Chinese family firms, indicated the following: (1) benevolent leadership is higher when leader PFP is congruent with follower PFT than when they are incongruent; (2) in cases of congruence, benevolent leadership is higher when leader PFP and follower PFT are both high rather than low; (3) in the case of incongruence, there is no significant difference for the level of benevolent leadership in two scenarios: "low leader PFP - high follower PFT" and "high leader PFP - low follower PFT".

Benevolent leadership, a traditional Chinese leadership style generated under the influence of Confucianism, has been under growing discussion since its proposal. However, existing research has focused mainly on the consequences of benevolent leadership, and research probing into its antecedents is scarce. To fill such research gap, the current study aims to explore the effect of the congruence between implicit positive followership prototype (PFP) and explicit positive followership trait (PFT) on benevolent leadership. Polynomial regression combined with the response surface methodology was used to test the hypotheses herein. The results, based on a sample of 241 leader–follower dyads from four Chinese family firms, indicated the following: (1) benevolent leadership is higher when leader PFP is congruent with follower PFT than when they are incongruent; (2) in cases of congruence, benevolent leadership is higher when leader PFP and follower PFT are both high rather than low; (3) in the case of incongruence, there is no significant difference for the level of benevolent leadership in two scenarios: “low leader PFP – high follower PFT” and “high leader PFP – low follower PFT”. PMID:27375514

Full Text Available The congruency sequence effect (CSE describes the finding that congruencyeffects in classic probes of selective attention (like the Stroop, Simon, and flanker tasks are smaller following an incongruent than following a congruent trial. The past two decades have generated a large literature on determinants and boundary conditions for the CSE and similar, congruency-proportion based modulations of congruencyeffects. A prolonged and heated theoretical discussion has been guided primarily by a historically motivated dichotomy between top-down control versus associative bottom-up explanations for these effects. In the present article, I attempt to integrate and contextualize the major empirical findings in this field by arguing that CSEs (and related effects are best understood as reflecting a composite of multiple levels of learning that differ in their level of abstraction. Specifically, learning does not only involve the trial-by-trial encoding, binding, and cued retrieval of specific stimulus-response associations, but also of more abstract trial features, including the spatial and temporal context in which a stimulus occurs, as well as internal states, like the experience of difficulty, and the attentional control settings that were employed in dealing with the stimulus. From this perspective, top-down control and bottom-up priming processes work in concert rather than in opposition. They represent different levels of abstraction in the same learning scheme and they serve a single, common goal: forming memory ensembles that will facilitate fast and appropriate responding to recurring stimuli or events in the environment.

This study applied hierarchical linear modeling to investigate the effect of congruence on intrinsic and extrinsic aspects of job satisfaction. Particular focus was given to differences in job satisfaction by gender and by Holland's first-letter codes. The study sample included nationally represented 1462 female and 1280 male college graduates who…

Full Text Available Performance on traditional selective attention tasks, like the Stroop and flanker protocols, is subject to modulation by trial history, whereby the magnitude of congruency (or conflict effects is often found to decrease following an incongruent trial compared to a congruent one. These ‘congruency sequence effects’ (CSEs typically appear to reflect a mesh of memory- and attention-based processes. The current study aimed to shed new light on the nature of the attention-based contribution to CSEs, by characterizing the shape of the CSE time-course while controlling for mnemonic influences. Existing attention-based accounts of CSEs are either ambiguous in their predictions of CSE time-courses, or predict CSEs to persist or grow over the post-stimulus/response interval in anticipation of an upcoming stimulus. We gauged CSE time-courses by systematically varying inter-stimulus (Experiment 1 and response-to-stimulus (Experiment 2 intervals across a wide temporal range, in a face-word Stroop task. In spite of a an exponential increase in the likelihood of stimulus appearance with increasing interval duration (i.e., an exponential hazard function, results from both experiments showed CSEs to be most pronounced at the shortest intervals, to quickly decay in magnitude with increasing interval length, and to be absent at longer intervals. These data refute the idea that attentional contributions to CSEs remain static over post-stimulus/response intervals and are incompatible with the notion that CSEs reflect expectation-guided preparatory biasing in anticipation of a forthcoming stimulus. The data are compatible, however, with the notion that attentional contributions to CSEs reflect a short-lived, phasic enhancement of attentional set in reaction to processing conflict.

This study investigated the gender-congruencyeffect of animate nouns in Hebrew. The Picture-Word Interference paradigm was used to manipulate gender congruency between target pictures and spoken distractors. Naming latency revealed an inhibitory gender-congruencyeffect, as naming the pictures took longer in the presence of a gender-congruent distractor than with a distractor from a different gender category. The inhibitory effect was demonstrated for feminine (morphologically marked) nouns, across two stimulus-onset asynchronies (SOAs) (Experiments 1a and 1b), and masculine (morphologically unmarked) nouns (Experiment 2). The same pattern was observed when participants had to produce bare nouns (Experiment 1) or gender-marked noun phrases (Experiment 3). The inhibitory pattern of the effect resembles previous findings of bare nouns in a subset of Romance languages, including Italian and Spanish. These findings add to previous research which investigated the gender-congruencyeffect of inanimate nouns, where no effect of gender-congruent words was found. The results are discussed in relation to the null effect previously found for inanimate nouns. The comparison of the present and previous studies is motivated by a common linguistic distinction between animate and inanimate nouns in Hebrew, which ascribes grammatical gender specifications to derivational structures (for inanimate nouns) versus inflectional structures (for animate nouns). Given the difference in the notional meaning of gender specification for animate and inanimate nouns, the case of Hebrew exemplifies how language-specific characteristics, such as rich morphological structures, can be used by the linguistic system to express conceptual distinctions at the form-word level.

Full Text Available The posterior medial frontal cortex (pMFC is thought to play a pivotal role in enabling the control of attention during periods of distraction. In line with this view, pMFC activity is ubiquitously greater in incongruent trials of response-interference (e.g., Stroop tasks than in congruent trials. Nonetheless, the process underlying this congruencyeffect remains highly controversial. We therefore sought to distinguish between two competing accounts of the congruencyeffect. The conflict monitoring account posits the effect indexes a process that detects conflict between competing response alternatives, which is indexed by trial-specific reaction time (RT. The time on task account posits the effect indexes a process whose recruitment increases with time on task independent of response conflict (e.g., sustained attention, arousal, effort, etc.. To distinguish between these accounts, we used functional MRI to record brain activity in twenty-four healthy adults while they performed two tasks: a response-interference task and a simple RT task with only one possible response. We reasoned that demands on a process that detects response conflict should increase with RT in the response-interference task but not in the simple RT task. In contrast, demands on a process whose recruitment increases with time on task independent of response conflict should increase with RT in both tasks. Trial-by-trial analyses revealed that pMFC activity increased with RT in both tasks. Moreover, pMFC activity increased with RT in the simple RT task enough to fully account for the congruencyeffect in the response-interference task. These findings appear more consistent with the time on task account of the congruencyeffect than with the conflict monitoring account.

The interaction of working and reference memory was studied in rats on an eight-arm radial maze. In two experiments, rats were trained to perform working memory and reference memory tasks. On working memory trials, they were allowed to enter four randomly chosen arms for reward in a study phase and then had to choose the unentered arms for reward in a test phase. On reference memory trials, they had to learn to visit the same four arms on the maze on every trial for reward. Retention was tested on working memory trials in which the interval between the study and test phase was 15 s, 15 min, or 30 min. At each retention interval, tests were performed in which the correct WM arms were either congruent or incongruent with the correct RM arms. Both experiments showed that congruency interacted with retention interval, yielding more forgetting at 30 min on incongruent trials than on congruent trials. The effect of reference memory strength on the congruencyeffect was examined in Experiment 1, and the effect of associating different contexts with working and reference memory on the congruencyeffect was studied in Experiment 2.

The authors report a series of experiments in which they use the masked congruence priming paradigm to investigate the processing of masked primes in the manual and verbal response modalities. In the manual response modality, they found that masked incongruent primes produced interference relative to both congruent and neutral primes. This…

Spatial disorientation is a major contributor to aircraft mishaps. One potential contributing factor is vection, an illusion of self-motion. Although vection is commonly thought of as a visual illusion, it can also be produced through audition. The purpose of the current experiment was to explore interactions between conflicting visual and auditory vection cues, specifically with regard to the speed and direction of rotation. The ultimate goal was to explore the extent to which aural vection could diminish or enhance the perception of visual vection. The study used a 3 x 2 within-groups factorial design. Participants were exposed to three levels of aural rotation velocity (slower, matched, and faster, relative to visual rotation speed) and two levels of aural rotational congruence (congruent or incongruent rotation) including two control conditions (visual and aural-only). Dependent measures included vection onset time, vection direction judgements, subjective vection strength ratings, vection speed ratings, and horizontal nystagmus frequency. Subjective responses to motion were assessed pre and post treatment, and oculomotor responses were assessed before, during, and following exposure to circular vection. The results revealed a significant effect of stimulus condition on vection strength. Specifically, directionally-congruent aural-visual vection resulted in significantly stronger vection than visual and aural vection alone. Perceptions of directionally-congruent aural-visual vection were slightly stronger vection than directionally-incongruent aural-visual vection, but not significantly so. No significant effects of aural rotation velocity on vection strength were observed. The results suggest directionally-incongruent aural vection could be used as a countermeasure for visual vection and directionally-congruent aural vection could be used to improve vection in virtual environments, provided further research is done.

This research was an empirical study designed to identify precursors and interaction effects related to nurses' patient identification behavior. A multilevel analysis methodology was used. A self-report survey was administered to registered nurses (RNs) of a university hospital in South Korea. Of the questionnaires, 1114 were analyzed. The individual-level factors that had a significantly positive association with patient identification behavior were person-organization value congruence, organizational commitment, occupational commitment, tenure at the hospital, and tenure at the unit. Significantly negative group-level precursors of patient identification behavior were burnout climate and the number of RNs. Two interaction effects of the person-organization value congruence climate were identified. The first was a group-level moderating effect in which the negative relationship between the number of RNs and patient identification behavior was weaker when the nursing unit's value congruence climate was high. The second was a cross-level moderating effect in which the positive relationship between tenure at the unit and patient identification behavior was weaker when value congruence climate was high. This study simultaneously tested both individual-level and group-level factors that potentially influence patient identification behavior and identified the moderating role of person-organization value congruence climate. Implications of these results are discussed.

J. Tuma proved an interesting "congruence amalgamation" result. We are generalizing and providing an alternate proof for it. We then provide applications of this result: --A.P. Huhn proved that every distributive algebraic lattice $D$ with at most $\\aleph\\_1$ compact elements can be represented as the congruence lattice of a lattice $L$. We show that $L$ can be constructed as a locally finite relatively complemented lattice with zero. --We find a large class of lattices, the $\\omega$-congruence-finite lattices, that contains all locally finite countable lattices, in which every lattice has a relatively complemented congruence-preserving extension.

This study examines celebrity endorser-brand congruenceeffects in green advertising on the ads' effectiveness. In an experimental survey, Dutch participants (197) saw ads with a congruent or incongruent celebrity endorser. Extending the match-up hypothesis to a novel match-up factor, greenness, the

Full Text Available Motor imagery (MI capacity may be altered following stroke. MI is evaluated by measuring temporal congruence between the timed performance of an imagined and an executed task. Temporal congruence between imagined and physical gait-related activities has not been evaluated following stroke. Moreover, the effect of cognitive dysfunction on temporal congruence is not known.To assess temporal congruence between the Timed Up and Go test (TUG and the imagined TUG (iTUG tests in patients with stroke and to investigate the role played by cognitive dysfunctions in changes in temporal congruence.TUG and iTUG performance were recorded and compared in twenty patients with chronic stroke and 20 controls. Cognitive function was measured using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA, the Frontal Assessment Battery at Bedside (FAB and the Bells Test.The temporal congruence of the patients with stroke was significantly altered compared to the controls, indicating a loss of MI capacity (respectively 45.11 ±35.11 vs 24.36 ±17.91, p = 0.02. Furthermore, iTUG test results were positively correlated with pathological scores on the Bells Test (r = 0.085, p = 0.013, likely suggesting that impairment of attention was a contributing factor.These results highlight the importance of evaluating potential attention disorder in patients with stroke to optimise the use of MI for rehabilitation and recovery. However further study is needed to determine how MI should be used in the case of cognitive dysfunction.

Behavioral studies of spoken word memory have shown that context congruency facilitates both word and source recognition, though the level at which context exerts its influence remains equivocal. We measured event-related potentials (ERPs) while participants performed both types of recognition task with words spoken in four voices. Two voice parameters (i.e., gender and accent) varied between speakers, with the possibility that none, one or two of these parameters was congruent between study and test. Results indicated that reinstating the study voice at test facilitated both word and source recognition, compared to similar or no context congruency at test. Behavioral effects were paralleled by two ERP modulations. First, in the word recognition test, the left parietal old/new effect showed a positive deflection reflective of context congruency between study and test words. Namely, the same speaker condition provided the most positive deflection of all correctly identified old words. In the source recognition test, a right frontal positivity was found for the same speaker condition compared to the different speaker conditions, regardless of response success. Taken together, the results of this study suggest that the benefit of context congruency is reflected behaviorally and in ERP modulations traditionally associated with recognition memory.

Full Text Available Behavioral studies of spoken word memory have shown that context congruency facilitates both word and source recognition, though the level at which context exerts its influence remains equivocal. We measured event-related potentials (ERPs while participants performed both types of recognition task with words spoken in four voices. Two voice parameters (i.e., gender and accent varied between speakers, with the possibility that none, one or two of these parameters was congruent between study and test. Results indicated that reinstating the study voice at test facilitated both word and source recognition, compared to similar or no context congruency at test. Behavioral effects were paralleled by two ERP modulations. First, in the word recognition test, the left parietal old/new effect showed a positive deflection reflective of context congruency between study and test words. Namely, the same speaker condition provided the most positive deflection of all correctly identified old words. In the source recognition test, a right frontal positivity was found for the same speaker condition compared to the different speaker conditions, regardless of response success. Taken together, the results of this study suggest that the benefit of context congruency is reflected behaviorally and in ERP modulations traditionally associated with recognition memory.

Odonata have been widely used as indicators for the biomonitoring of terrestrial and aquatic habitats due to their sensitivity to environmental impacts. We aimed to determine whether the larval or adult phases of these insects were the best predictors of variation in habitat parameters and the loss of environmental integrity. Specimens were collected during three seasons (dry, rainy, and ebb) from 12 points in the Suiá-missu River basin, at the headwaters of the Xingu River in Mato Grosso, Brazil. The Protest analysis indicated a high degree of congruence between the assemblages of larvae and adults in streams with varying degrees of habitat integrity (R = 0.832, p environmental factors was analyzed, a significant association was found only for the larval phase (R = 0.318, p = 0.03, m 2 = 0.888). When the suborders were analyzed separately, congruence was confirmed for anisopteran adults (R = 0.338, p = 0.031, m 2 = 0.885) and larvae (R = 0.417, p = 0.003, m 2 = 0.826) and for the zygopteran adults (R = 0.345, p = 0.027, m 2 = 0.881) and larvae (R = 0.405, p = 0.011, m 2 = 0.836). These results indicate that both larvae and adults respond systematically to environmental impacts. We suggest that either life phase can be used for biomonitoring, given their effectiveness for the interpretation of disturbance in terrestrial and aquatic habitats. These findings further reinforce the effectiveness of this insect order for the detection of modifications to the environment, showing that they are good indicators of environmental conditions.

Linguistic relativity--the idea that language affects thought by way of its grammatical categorizations--has been controversially debated for decades. One of the contested cases is the grammatical gender of nouns, which is claimed to affect how their referents are conceptualized (i.e., as rather female or male in congruence with the grammatical gender of the noun), especially when used allegorically. But is this association strong enough to be detected in implicit measures, and, if so, can we disentangle effects of grammatical gender and allegorical association? Three experiments with native speakers of German tackled these questions. They revealed a gender congruencyeffect on allegorically used nouns, but this effect was stronger with an explicit measure (assignment of biological sex) than with an implicit measure (Extrinsic Affective Simon Task) and disappeared in the implicit measure when grammatical gender and allegorical associations were set into contrast. Taken together, these findings indicate that the observed congruencyeffect was driven by the association of nouns with personifications rather than by their grammatical gender. In conclusion, we also discuss implications of these findings for linguistic relativity.

To investigate the effects of congruence between preferred and perceived learning environments on learning outcomes of nursing students. A nursing course at a university in central Taiwan. 124 Taiwanese nursing students enrolled in a 13-week problem-based Fundamental Nursing curriculum. Students' preferred learning environment, perceptions about the learning environment and learning outcomes (knowledge, self-efficacy and attitudes) were assessed. On the basis of test scores measuring their preferred and perceived learning environments, students were assigned to one of two groups: a 'preferred environment aligned with perceived learning environment' group and a 'preferred environment discordant with perceived learning environment' group. Learning outcomes were analysed by group. Most participants preferred learning in a classroom environment that combined problem-based and lecture-based instruction. However, a mismatch of problem-based instruction with students' perceptions occurred. Learning outcomes were significantly better when students' perceptions of their instructional activities were congruent with their preferred learning environment. As problem-based learning becomes a focus of educational reform in nursing, teachers need to be aware of students' preferences and perceptions of the learning environment. Teachers may also need to improve the match between an individual student's perception and a teacher's intention in the learning environment, and between the student's preferred and actual perceptions of the learning environment. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Celebrity endorsement strategy is widely used by marketers for the purpose of increasing sales and extending the market shares. Celebrity endorsers have proved with positive impacts on purchase intention by many researchers. However, the current findings about the effects of celebrity endorsement on purchase intention are still equivocal, owing to several different dimensions of celebrity endorsement. For example, source credibility of celebrity, celebrity congruency and meaning transfer of c...

Task-irrelevant stimulus numbers can automatically modulate concurrent temporal tasks--leading to the phenomenon of number-time association (NTA). Recent research provides converging evidence that the NTA occurs at the stage of temporal memory. Specifically, a reference memory containing encoded duration information can be modified by perceptual/concurrent digits, i.e., a perceptual/concurrent digit-induced NTA. Here, with five experiments, we investigated whether another working memory (WM)-related mechanism was involved in the generation of NTAs and how this memory-induced NTA was related with the perception-induced NTA. We first explored whether similar NTA effects existed for mnemonic digits which disappeared before time encoding but were actively maintained in WM, i.e., a mnemonic digit-induced NTA. Experiments 1-3 demonstrated both types of NTAs. Further, we revealed a close relationship between the two types of NTAs in two contexts. First, the mnemonic digit-induced NTA also relied on a perceptual number-time co-occurrence at time encoding. We found that the mnemonic digits influenced subsequent temporal processing when a task-irrelevant constant number '5' was presented during target encoding, but not when a non-numerical symbol was presented, suggesting that temporal representations in the reference memory could be accessed and modified by both sensory and postsensory numerical magnitudes through this number-time co-occurrence. Second, the effects of perceptual and mnemonic digits on temporal reproduction could cancel each other out. A congruencyeffect for perceptual and mnemonic digits (relying on memorization requirement) was demonstrated in Experiments 4 and 5. Specifically, a typical NTA was observed when the magnitudes of memorized and the perceptual/concurrent digits were congruent (both were large or small numbers), but not when they were incongruent (one small and one large numbers). Taken together, our study sheds new light on the mechanism of

Full Text Available This study examined the encoding specificity principle in relation to traditional and computer-based note taking and assessment formats in higher education. Students (N = 79 took lecture notes either by hand (n = 40 or by computer (n = 39 and then completed either a computer or a paper-based assessment. When note taking and assessment formats were congruent, students scored significantly higher on the assessment when compared to students whose note taking and assessment format were incongruent. These findings highlight the importance of research on how in-class technology may affect student performance, and suggest that faculty and administrators seek to coordinate and standardize the use of assessment and note taking technologies where possible.

Despite the constant interest in the theory and practice of leadership as it relates to leadership styles and leadership effectiveness, ongoing debate continues regarding the importance of leadership style and its effectiveness in the administration of underperforming schools. The problem addressed by this study was, despite frequent changes of…

Ethical culture construction is beneficial to maximize policy following behavior (PFB) and avoid accidents of coal miners in an economic downturn. This paper examines the congruence between coal mine ethical culture values (ECVs) and miners' moral values (MVs) and the relationship with PFB. To shed light on this relationship, supervisor moral values (SMVs) act as a key moderator. We build on the initial structure of values to measure ECVs, MVs, and SMVs. At the same time, available congruence was defined to describe the relationship between the two values. Drawing upon a survey of 267 miners in Chinese large state-owned coal mining enterprises, results revealed that ECVs-MVs congruence had a linear relationship with intrinsic PFB (IPFB) and a non-linear relationship with extrinsic PFB. These findings demonstrate that SMVs had a moderating effect on the relationship between ECVs-MVs congruence and extrinsic PFB. Thus, we continued to calculate the available congruence scope in tested enterprises. Furthermore, this study gives relative management proposals and suggestions to improve miners' moral standards and to reduce coal mine accidents.

Demonstrated the emotion-specific priming effects of negatively valenced emotions (anger, sadness, and fear) in a divided attention task. Results indicated that a negative emotion displayed by a target that matched the emotion induced by a priming manipulation was significantly stronger than an incongruous priming manipulation and displayed…

In the current study, we explored the influence of synesthesia on memory for word lists. We tested 10 grapheme-color synesthetes who reported an experience of color when reading letters or words. We replicated a previous finding that memory is compromised when synesthetic color is incongruent with perceptual color. Beyond this, we found that, although their memory for word lists was superior overall, synesthetes did not exhibit typical color- or semantic-defined von Restorff isolation effects (von Restorff, 1933) compared with control participants. Moreover, our synesthetes exhibited a reduced Deese-Roediger-McDermott false memory effect (Deese, 1959; Roediger & McDermott, 1995). Taken as a whole, these findings are consistent with the idea that color-grapheme synesthesia can lead people to place a greater emphasis on item-specific processing and surface form characteristics of words in a list (e.g., the letters that make them up) relative to relational processing and more meaning-based processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

This paper focuses on whether congruency at the crossmodal correspondence level between an ambient scent and a product packaging leads to a higher preference for that product packaging than when they are incongruent. The crossmodal correspondence under study is the ‘angularity’ versus ‘roundness’ aspect. Pilot studies made clear that (1) rosemary is perceived as an angular scent and rose is perceived as a rounded scent, and (2) the pasta product penne has no inherently angular or rounded asp...

Full Text Available Recognition of older people’s body expressions is a crucial social skill. We here investigate how age, not just of the observer, but also of the observed individual, affects this skill. Age may influence the ability to recognize other people’s body expressions by changes in one’s own ability to perform certain action over the life-span (i.e., an own-age bias may occur, with best recognition for one’s own age. Whole body point light displays of children, young adults and older adults (>70 years expressing six different emotions were presented to observers of the same three age-groups. Across two variations of the paradigm, no evidence for the predicted own-age bias (a cross-over interaction between one’s own age and the observed person’s age was found. Instead, experience effects were found with children better recognizing older actors’ expressions of ‘active emotions,’ such as anger and happiness with greater exposure in daily life. Together, the findings suggest that age-related changes in one own’s mobility only influences body expression categorization in young children who interact frequently with older adults.

In this paper we study representations of the projective modular group induced from the Hecke congruence group of level 4 with Selberg's character. We show that the well known congruence properties of Selberg's character are equivalent to the congruence properties of the induced representations. ...... by Zograf's geometric method. They belong to the class of character groups of type $\\rm I$ for the principal congruence subgroup $\\Gamma(4)$ and have, contrary to the noncongruence groups determined by Selberg's character which all have genus $g=0$, arbitrary genus $g\\geq 0$....

The ABC conjecture of Masser and Oesterle' states that if (a,b,c) are coprime integers with a + b + c = 0, then sup(|a|,|b|,|c|) 0. Oesterle' has observed that if the ABC conjecture holds for all (a,b,c) with 16 | abc, then the full ABC conjecture holds. We extend that result to show that, for every integer N, the "congruence ABC conjecture" that ABC holds for all (a,b,c) with N|abc implies the full ABC conjecture.

In program algebra, an algebraic theory of single-pass instruction sequences, three congruences on instruction sequences are paid attention to: instruction sequence congruence, structural congruence, and behavioural congruence. Sound and complete axiom systems for the first two congruences were

The present study examines the relation between client participation in attorney-client relationships, the development of client trust in criminal defense attorneys, and client satisfaction with attorneys and case outcomes. The congruence model of trust development (CMTD) is proposed to explain the relation between desired participation by clients, allowed participation by attorneys, and the development of client trust in attorneys. The CMTD predicts that clients who trust their attorneys will subsequently be satisfied with their attorneys and case outcomes. A sample of 96 experienced criminal defendants currently in prison completed the Attorney-Client Trust Scale (ACTS: Boccaccini and Brodsky, 2002) and provided information about their experiences with their most recent criminal defense attorneys. Findings were generally consistent with the CMTD in suggesting that (i) allowed participation is associated with trust in attorneys, and (ii) trust is associated with satisfaction with attorneys and case outcomes. Copyright 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This study has several purposes. First, this study aims to investigate the effect of consumer-brand value congruence, brand distinctiveness, brand social benefit, brand warmth, and memorable brand experience on customer-brand identification (CBI). We call all of those factors as the antecedent factor of CBI. Second, this study aims to investigate the effect of CBI on customer loyalty. Third, investigate the role of product involvement as a moderating variable of the relationship between brand distinctiveness, brand social benefit, brand warmth, memorable brand experience and CBI. This research used primary data collected through closed questionnaires using a Likert scale of 1 - 5. The total sample size was 273 respondents located in Semarang City who has or has been using Acer Laptop for minimal one year. This research was conducted using Partial Least Square (PLS) method through SmartPLS 3.0 software. The result of data processing indicated that all of the antecedent factors of CBI have the positive and significant effect on CBI of the user of Acer Laptop. In this case, among the five antecedent factors of CBI, value congruence has the greatest effect on CBI of the user of Acer Laptop. The result of data processing also indicated that CBI has the positive and significant effect on brand loyalty of user of Acer Laptop. This study fails to prove the role of product involvement as a moderating variable of the relationship between brand distinctiveness, brand social benefit, brand warmth, memorable brand experience and CBI of the user of Acer Laptop. Moreover, based on the result of hypothesis testing, this study gives some recommendation to Acer Laptop to develop or create some features which are match with the value of user of Laptop Acer in Semarang City.

Full Text Available This study has several purposes. First, this study aims to investigate the effect of consumer–brand value congruence, brand distinctiveness, brand social benefit, brand warmth, and memorable brand experience on customer-brand identification (CBI. We call all of those factors as the antecedent factor of CBI. Second, this study aims to investigate the effect of CBI on customer loyalty. Third, investigate the role of product involvement as a moderating variable of the relationship between brand distinctiveness, brand social benefit, brand warmth, memorable brand experience and CBI. This research used primary data collected through closed questionnaires using a Likert scale of 1 - 5. The total sample size was 273 respondents located in Semarang City who has or has been using Acer Laptop for minimal one year. This research was conducted using Partial Least Square (PLS method through SmartPLS 3.0 software. The result of data processing indicated that all of the antecedent factors of CBI have the positive and significant effect on CBI of the user of Acer Laptop. In this case, among the five antecedent factors of CBI, value congruence has the greatest effect on CBI of the user of Acer Laptop. The result of data processing also indicated that CBI has the positive and significant effect on brand loyalty of user of Acer Laptop. This study fails to prove the role of product involvement as a moderating variable of the relationship between brand distinctiveness, brand social benefit, brand warmth, memorable brand experience and CBI of the user of Acer Laptop. Moreover, based on the result of hypothesis testing, this study gives some recommendation to Acer Laptop to develop or create some features which are match with the value of user of Laptop Acer in Semarang City.

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to further develop the congruence theory on lattice implication algebras. Firstly, we introduce the notions of vague similarity relations based on vague relations and vague congruence relations. Secondly, the equivalent characterizations of vague congruence relations are investigated. Thirdly, the relation between the set of vague filters and the set of vague congruences is studied. Finally, we construct a new lattice implication algebra induced by a vague congruence, and the homomorphism theorem is given.

The aim of this paper is to further develop the congruence theory on lattice implication algebras. Firstly, we introduce the notions of vague similarity relations based on vague relations and vague congruence relations. Secondly, the equivalent characterizations of vague congruence relations are investigated. Thirdly, the relation between the set of vague filters and the set of vague congruences is studied. Finally, we construct a new lattice implication algebra induced by a vague congruence, and the homomorphism theorem is given. PMID:25133207

X-ray/light field alignment is a test described in many guidelines for the routine quality control of clinical linear accelerators (LINAC). Currently, the gold standard method for measuring alignment is through utilization of radiographic film. However, many modern LINACs are equipped with an electronic portal imaging device (EPID) that may be used to perform this test and thus subsequently reducing overall cost, processing, and analysis time, removing operator dependency and the requirement to sustain the departmental film processor. This work describes a novel method of utilizing the EPID together with a custom inhouse designed jig and automatic image processing software allowing measurement of the light field size, x-ray field size, and congruence between them. The authors present results of testing the method for aS1000 and aS500 Varian EPID detectors for six LINACs at a range of energies (6, 10, and 15 MV) in comparison with the results obtained from the use of radiographic film. Reproducibility of the software in fully automatic operation under a range of operating conditions for a single image showed a congruence of 0.01 cm with a coefficient of variation of 0. Slight variation in congruence repeatability was noted through semiautomatic processing by four independent operators due to manual marking of positions on the jig. Testing of the methodology using the automatic method shows a high precision of 0.02 mm compared to a maximum of 0.06 mm determined by film processing. Intraindividual examination of operator measurements of congruence was shown to vary as much as 0.75 mm. Similar congruence measurements of 0.02 mm were also determined for a lower resolution EPID (aS500 model), after rescaling of the image to the aS1000 image size. The designed methodology was proven to be time efficient, cost effective, and at least as accurate as using the gold standard radiographic film. Additionally, congruence testing can be easily performed for all four cardinal

Previous studies claimed that task representation is carried out by the activated long-term memory portion of working memory (WM; Meiran and Kessler in J Exp Psychol Human Percept Perform 34:137-157, 2008). The present study provides a more direct support for this hypothesis. We used the reaction-time task-rule congruencyeffect (RT-TRCE) in a task-switching setup, and tested the effects of loading WM with irrelevant task rules on RT-TRCE. Experiment 1 manipulated WM load in a between-subject design. WM participants performed a color/shape task switching, while having 0, 1 or 3 numerical task rules as WM load. Experiment 2 used a similar load manipulation (1 or 3 rules to load WM) in a within-subject design. Experiment 3 extended these results by loading WM with perceptual tasks that were more similar to the shape/color tasks. The results show that RT-TRCE was not affected by WM load supporting the activated long-term memory hypothesis.

This rejoinder to comments on a previous article about research on the person-environment fit (PEF) model addresses issues in the relationship of congruence to vocational outcomes, the circumplex model, tests of Holland's hexagonal model, and advances in PEF theory and research. (Contains 61 references.) (SK)

Full Text Available According to the conflict monitoring model of cognitive control, reaction time (RT in distracter interference tasks (e.g., the Stroop task is a more precise index of response conflict than stimulus congruency (incongruent vs. congruent. The model therefore predicts that RT should be a reliable predictor of activity in regions of the posterior medial frontal cortex (pMFC that are posited to detect response conflict. In particular, pMFC activity should be (a greater in slow-RT than in fast-RT trials within a given task condition (e.g., congruent and (b equivalent in RT-matched trials from different conditions (i.e., congruent and incongruent trials. Both of these effects have been observed in functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI studies of adults. However, neither effect was observed in a recent study of healthy youth, suggesting that (a the model does not accurately describe the relationship between RT and pMFC activity in this population or (b the recent study was characterized by high variability due to a relatively small sample size. To distinguish between these possibilities, we asked a relatively large group of healthy youth (n = 28 to perform a distracter interference task - the multi-source interference task (MSIT - while we recorded their brain activity with functional MRI. In this relatively large sample, both of the model's predictions were confirmed. We conclude that the model accurately describes the relationship between pMFC activity and RT in healthy youth, but that additional research is needed to determine whether processes unrelated to response conflict contribute to this relationship.

Full Text Available More than five decades ago it was postulated that sensory neurons detect and selectively enhance behaviourally relevant features of natural signals. Although we now know that sensory neurons are tuned to efficiently encode natural stimuli, until now it was not clear what statistical features of the stimuli they encode and how. Here we reverse-engineer the neural code of Drosophila photoreceptors and show for the first time that photoreceptors exploit nonlinear dynamics to selectively enhance and encode phase-related features of temporal stimuli, such as local phase congruency, which are invariant to changes in illumination and contrast. We demonstrate that to mitigate for the inherent sensitivity to noise of the local phase congruency measure, the nonlinear coding mechanisms of the fly photoreceptors are tuned to suppress random phase signals, which explains why photoreceptor responses to naturalistic stimuli are significantly different from their responses to white noise stimuli.

More than five decades ago it was postulated that sensory neurons detect and selectively enhance behaviourally relevant features of natural signals. Although we now know that sensory neurons are tuned to efficiently encode natural stimuli, until now it was not clear what statistical features of the stimuli they encode and how. Here we reverse-engineer the neural code of Drosophila photoreceptors and show for the first time that photoreceptors exploit nonlinear dynamics to selectively enhance and encode phase-related features of temporal stimuli, such as local phase congruency, which are invariant to changes in illumination and contrast. We demonstrate that to mitigate for the inherent sensitivity to noise of the local phase congruency measure, the nonlinear coding mechanisms of the fly photoreceptors are tuned to suppress random phase signals, which explains why photoreceptor responses to naturalistic stimuli are significantly different from their responses to white noise stimuli.

This paper addresses effects of picture–text congruence in the online environment on consumer response. Based on recent theorizing on processing fluency, it is argued that congruence among symbolic meanings connoted by pictorial and textual elements of web design increases processing fluency, in

The item-specific proportion congruent (ISPC) effect refers to the observation that the Stroop effect is larger for words that are presented mostly in congruent colors (e.g., "BLUE" presented 75% of the time in blue) and smaller for words that are presented mostly in a given incongruent color (e.g., "YELLOW" presented 75% of…

Full Text Available Abstract Background The retention of ancestral juvenile characters by adult stages of descendants is called paedomorphosis. However, this process can mislead phylogenetic analyses based on morphological data, even in combination with molecular data, because the assessment if a character is primary absent or secondary lost is difficult. Thus, the detection of incongruence between morphological and molecular data is necessary to investigate the reliability of simultaneous analyses. Different methods have been proposed to detect data congruence or incongruence. Five of them (PABA, PBS, NDI, LILD, DRI are used herein to assess incongruence between morphological and molecular data in a case study addressing salamander phylogeny, which comprises several supposedly paedomorphic taxa. Therefore, previously published data sets were compiled herein. Furthermore, two strategies ameliorating effects of paedomorphosis on phylogenetic studies were tested herein using a statistical rigor. Additionally, efficiency of the different methods to assess incongruence was analyzed using this empirical data set. Finally, a test statistic is presented for all these methods except DRI. Results The addition of morphological data to molecular data results in both different positions of three of the four paedomorphic taxa and strong incongruence, but treating the morphological data using different strategies ameliorating the negative impact of paedomorphosis revokes these changes and minimizes the conflict. Of these strategies the strategy to just exclude paedomorphic character traits seem to be most beneficial. Of the three molecular partitions analyzed herein the RAG1 partition seems to be the most suitable to resolve deep salamander phylogeny. The rRNA and mtDNA partition are either too conserved or too variable, respectively. Of the different methods to detect incongruence, the NDI and PABA approaches are more conservative in the indication of incongruence than LILD and

Previous research has shown that prior brand exposure (e.g., through advertising) can positively influence brand consideration, brand attitudes, and brand choice. In the present studies, the authors argue that the effects of prior brand exposure depend on the communication modality (visual vs.

Previous research has shown that prior brand exposure (e.g., through advertising) can positively influence brand consideration, brand attitudes, and brand choice. In the present studies, the authors argue that the effects of prior brand exposure depend on the communication modality (visual vs.

Previous research has shown that prior brand exposure (e.g., through advertising) can positively influence brand consideration, brand attitudes, and brand choice. In the present studies, the authors argue that the effects of prior brand exposure depend on the communication modality (visual vs.

Most studies focus on trade effects and organizational outcomes of international standards, neglecting the effect of standards on employees. Using a two-year matched firm–employee panel dataset, this paper finds that the application of standards improves work conditions in small and medium...... enterprises in Vietnam. Certified firms pay higher wages on average. They are also more likely to offer formal contracts and to pay social and health insurance to workers. The estimation accounts for endogenous matching of workers with firms and unobserved heterogeneity using an instrumental variable approach....... The study reveals unexpected benefits from certification, calling for higher investment in standards....

Full Text Available Normal 0 false false false IN X-NONE X-NONE This paper focuses the research on the Influence of Sponsor-Event Congruence toward Brand Image, Attitudes toward the Brand and Purchase Intention. Having reviewed the literatures and arranged the hypotheses, the data has been gathered by distributing the questionnaire to 155 audiences at the Java Jazz Music Festival, firstly with convenience sampling and then snowballing sampling approach. The analysis of data was executed with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM. The result shows the sponsor-event congruence variable has a positive impact toward brand image and attitudes toward the brand sponsor. Brand Image also has a positive impact toward purchase intention; in contrary attitudes toward the brand do not have a positive purchase intention. With those results, to increase the sponsorship effectiveness, the role of congruency is very significant in the sponsorship event. Congruency is a key influencer to trigger the sponsorship effectiveness. Congruency between the event and the sponsor is able to boost up the brand image and bring out favorable attitudes towards the brand for the success of marketing communication programs, particularly sponsorship. In addition to it, image transfer gets higher due to the congruency existence (fit between sponsor and event and directs the intention creation to buy sponsor brand product/service (purchase intention. In conclusion, sponsor-event congruence has effect on consumer responds toward sponsorship, either on the cognitive level, affective and also behavior.

Full Text Available This paper focuses the research on the Influence of Sponsor-Event Congruence toward Brand Image, Attitudes toward the Brand and Purchase Intention. Having reviewed the literatures and arranged the hypotheses, the data has been gathered by distributing the questionnaire to 155 audiences at the Java Jazz Music Festival, firstly with convenience sampling and then snowballing sampling approach. The analysis of data was executed with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM. The result shows the sponsor-event congruence variable has a positive impact toward brand image and attitudes toward the brand sponsor. Brand Image also has a positive impact toward purchase intention; in contrary attitudes toward the brand do not have a positive purchase intention. With those results, to increase the sponsorship effectiveness, the role of congruency is very significant in the sponsorship event. Congruency is a key influencer to trigger the sponsorship effectiveness. Congruency between the event and the sponsor is able to boost up the brand image and bring out favorable attitudes towards the brand for the success of marketing communication programs, particularly sponsorship. In addition to it, image transfer gets higher due to the congruency existence (fit between sponsor and event and directs the intention creation to buy sponsor brand product/service (purchase intention. In conclusion, sponsor-event congruence has effect on consumer responds toward sponsorship, either on the cognitive level, affective and also behavior.

In a sample of 54 middle managers, significant moderator effects were found for the mental health indices of self-esteem, life-satisfaction, and overall mental health and for satisfaction with supervision. These indices correlated positively with job tenure for high congruency individuals. For low congruency individuals, the obtained correlations…

It is known that number and space representations are connected to one another in numerical and arithmetic abilities. Numbers are represented using the metaphor of a mental number line, oriented along horizontal and vertical space. This number line also seems to be linked to mental arithmetic, which is based partly on arithmetic fact retrieval. It seems that number representation and mental arithmetic are linked together. The present study tested the effect of spatial contextual congruency between stimulus presentation and response key arrangements in arithmetic fact retrieval, using number-matching and addition verification tasks. For both tasks in Experiment 1, a contextual congruencyeffect was present horizontally (i.e., horizontal presentation of stimuli and horizontal response key alignments) but not vertically (i.e., vertical presentation of stimuli but horizontal response key alignments). In Experiment 2, both tasks showed a contextual congruencyeffect for both spatial conditions. Experiment 1 showed that the interference and distance effects were found in the horizontal condition, probably because of the spatial congruency between stimulus presentation and response key arrangements. This spatial congruency could be related to the activation of the horizontal number line. Experiment 2 showed similar interference and distance effects for both spatial conditions, suggesting that the congruency between stimulus presentation and response alignment could facilitate the retrieval of arithmetic facts. This facilitation could be related to the activation of both horizontal and vertical number lines. The results are discussed in light of the possible role of a mental number line in arithmetic fact retrieval.

The aim of this study was to explore operator experience and performance for semantically congruent and incongruent auditory icons and abstract alarm sounds. It was expected that performance advantages for congruent sounds would be present initially but would reduce over time for both alarm types. Twenty-four participants (12M/12F) were placed into auditory icon or abstract alarm groupings. For each group both congruent and incongruent alarms were used to represent different driving task scenarios. Once sounded, participants were required to respond to each alarm by selecting a corresponding driving scenario. User performance for all sound types improved over time, however even with experience a decrement in speed of response remained for the incongruent iconic sounds and in accuracy of performance for the abstract warning sounds when compared to the congruent auditory icons. Semantic congruency was found to be of more importance for auditory icons than for abstract sounds. Practitioner Summary: Alarms are used in many operating systems as emergency, alerting, or continuous monitoring signals for instance. This study found that the type and representativeness of an auditory warning will influence operator performance over time. Semantically congruent iconic sounds produced performance advantages over both incongruent iconic sounds and abstract warnings.

Employees working in the hospitality industry are constantly exposed to occupational stressors that may lead employees into experiencing burnout syndrome. Research addressing the interactive effects of control, community and value congruence to alleviate the impact of workplace demands on experiencing burnout is relatively limited. The present study examined relationships among control, community and value congruence, workplace demands and the three components of burnout. A sample of 418 employees working in a variety of hospitality associations including restaurants and hotels in Spain were recruited. Moderation analyses and linear regressions analyzed the predictive power of control, community and value congruence as moderating variables. Results indicate that control, community and value congruence were successful buffers in the relationships between workplace demands and the burnout dimensions. The present findings offer suggestions for future research on potential moderating variables, as well as implications for reducing burnout among hospitality employees.

This paper presents empirical research into the relationship between leader-follower value congruence in social responsibility and the level of ethical satisfaction for employees in the workplace. 163 dyads were analyzed, each consisting of a team leader and an employee working at a large manufacturing company in South Korea. Following current methodological recommendations for congruence research, polynomial regression and response surface modeling methodologies were used to determine the effects of value congruence. Results indicate that leader-follower value congruence in social responsibility was positively related to the ethical satisfaction of employees. Furthermore, employees' ethical satisfaction was stronger when aligned with a leader with high social responsibility. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Full Text Available Objective: Theory and research suggest that the pursuit of personal goals that do not fit a person's affect-based implicit motives results in impaired emotional well-being, including increased symptoms of depression. The aim of this study was to evaluate an intervention designed to enhance motive-goal congruence and study its impact on well-being.Method: Seventy-four German students (mean age = 22.91, SD = 3.68; 64.9% female without current psychopathology, randomly allocated to three groups: motivational feedback (FB; n = 25; participants learned about the fit between their implicit motives and explicit goals, FB + congruence-enhancement training (CET; n = 22; participants also engaged in exercises to increase the fit between their implicit motives and goals, and a no-intervention control group (n = 27, were administered measures of implicit motives, personal goal commitments, happiness, depressive symptoms, and life satisfaction 3 weeks before (T1 and 6 weeks after (T2 treatment.Results: On two types of congruence measures derived from motive and goal assessments, treated participants showed increases in agentic (power and achievement congruence, with improvements being most consistent in the FB+CET group. Treated participants also showed a trend-level depressive symptom reduction, but no changes on other well-being measures. Although increases in overall and agentic motivational congruence were associated with increases in affective well-being, treatment-based reduction of depressive symptoms was not mediated by treatment-based agentic congruence changes.Conclusion: These findings document that motivational congruence can be effectively enhanced, that changes in motivational congruence are associated with changes in affective well-being, and they suggest that individuals' implicit motives should be considered when personal goals are discussed in the therapeutic process.

Two-parameter families of straight lines (line congruences) are implicitly present in graphics and geometry processing in several important ways including lighting and shape analysis. In this paper we make them accessible to optimization and geometric computing, by introducing a general discrete version of congruences based on piecewise-linear correspondences between triangle meshes. Our applications of congruences are based on the extraction of a so-called torsion-free support structure, which is a procedure analogous to remeshing a surface along its principal curvature lines. A particular application of such structures are freeform shading and lighting systems for architecture. We combine interactive design of such systems with global optimization in order to satisfy geometric constraints. In this way we explore a new area where architecture can greatly benefit from graphics.

Pseudospherical Bianchi congruences in Euclidean 4-space E 4 are considered. The focal surfaces of such congruences are shown to have a constant negative Gaussian curvature. A geometric and an analytic description of special pseudo- spherical surfaces in E 4 admitting a Bianchi congruence are obtained.

with an associated notion of context isomorphism. For� getting this structure often leads to problems and we shall show that the theory can be extended smoothly, retaining this useful information as well as the congruence theorems. Technically, the generalisation includes defining the central notion of groupoidal...

This thesis is concerned with the development of a theory which, given a formalism with a reduction semantics, allows the derivation of a canonical labelled transition system on which bisimilarity as well as other other equiv� alences are congruences; provided that the contexts of the formalism f...

This cross-sectional study examined the actor and partner effects of beliefs about AIDS-related death on quality of life in Chinese married couples in which both were living with HIV. A total of 49 married couples in central China who were both infected with HIV completed measures to assess their beliefs about AIDS-related death and quality of life. In the actor-partner interdependence model, the husband-wife dyad showed congruence in their beliefs about AIDS-related death (r = .40) and quality of life-mental health summary (r = .31), respectively, within the couple. Both actor and partner effects of beliefs about AIDS-related death on the quality of life-mental health summary, rather than the quality of life-physical health summary, were significant within the husband-wife dyad. Our findings indicate the dyadic interdependence of beliefs about AIDS-related death and the quality of life-mental health summary in married couples. Psychosocial interventions that target a reduction of negative death beliefs and enhancement of well-being in the context of HIV should treat the couple as a unit.

The tendency of some sexual offenders against children to display an exaggerated cognitive and emotional affiliation with childhood has been labeled "emotional congruence" by Finkelhor (1984) and as overidentification with childhood by others. This study consisted of an evaluation of emotional congruence in 194 men--homosexual and heterosexual pedophiles (N's = 41 and 31), heterosexual nonpedophilic incest offenders (N = 62), sexual offenders against women (N = 27), and nonsexual offender criminals (N = 33). A revised version of the Child Identification Scale (CIS-R) was used in combination with a semistructured interview (SSI) also intended to measure the construct. Maximum-likelihood factor analysis of the CIS-R generated eight factors. All subjects, particularly the nonsexual offenders, scored high on a factor indicating a wish to restart their lives. With respect to emotional congruence, results showed that only the homosexual pedophiles' scores indicated a preference for interacting with children on the child's level, while the incest offenders seemed to prefer to elevate their victims to adult status rather than fixating on the child role themselves. The group of heterosexual pedophiles, however, seemed to be motivated more by sexual gratification than by an emotional or relationship interest in their victims or children.

Full Text Available A priori, there is nothing very special about shear-free or asymptotically shear-free null geodesic congruences. Surprisingly, however, they turn out to possess a large number of fascinating geometric properties and to be closely related, in the context of general relativity, to a variety of physically significant effects. It is the purpose of this paper to try to fully develop these issues. This work starts with a detailed exposition of the theory of shear-free and asymptotically shear-free null geodesic congruences, i.e., congruences with shear that vanishes at future conformal null infinity. A major portion of the exposition lies in the analysis of the space of regular shear-free and asymptotically shear-free null geodesic congruences. This analysis leads to the space of complex analytic curves in an auxiliary four-complex dimensional space, H-space. They in turn play a dominant role in the applications. The applications center around the problem of extracting interior physical properties of an asymptotically-flat spacetime directly from the asymptotic gravitational (and Maxwell field itself, in analogy with the determination of total charge by an integral over the Maxwell field at infinity or the identification of the interior mass (and its loss by (Bondi's integrals of the Weyl tensor, also at infinity. More specifically, we will see that the asymptotically shear-free congruences lead us to an asymptotic definition of the center-of-mass and its equations of motion. This includes a kinematic meaning, in terms of the center-of-mass motion, for the Bondi three-momentum. In addition, we obtain insights into intrinsic spin and, in general, angular momentum, including an angular-momentum--conservation law with well-defined flux terms. When a Maxwell field is present, the asymptotically shear-free congruences allow us to determine/define at infinity a center-of-charge world line and intrinsic magnetic dipole moment.

Full Text Available A priori, there is nothing very special about shear-free or asymptotically shear-free null geodesic congruences. Surprisingly, however, they turn out to possess a large number of fascinating geometric properties and to be closely related, in the context of general relativity, to a variety of physically significant effects. It is the purpose of this paper to try to fully develop these issues. This work starts with a detailed exposition of the theory of shear-free and asymptotically shear-free null geodesic congruences, i.e., congruences with shear that vanishes at future conformal null infinity. A major portion of the exposition lies in the analysis of the space of regular shear-free and asymptotically shear-free null geodesic congruences. This analysis leads to the space of complex analytic curves in complex Minkowski space. They in turn play a dominant role in the applications. The applications center around the problem of extracting interior physical properties of an asymptotically-flat spacetime directly from the asymptotic gravitational (and Maxwell field itself, in analogy with the determination of total charge by an integral over the Maxwell field at infinity or the identification of the interior mass (and its loss by (Bondi’s integrals of the Weyl tensor, also at infinity. More specifically, we will see that the asymptotically shear-free congruences lead us to an asymptotic definition of the center-of-mass and its equations of motion. This includes a kinematic meaning, in terms of the center-of-mass motion, for the Bondi three-momentum. In addition, we obtain insights into intrinsic spin and, in general, angular momentum, including an angular-momentum–conservation law with well-defined flux terms. When a Maxwell field is present, the asymptotically shear-free congruences allow us to determine/define at infinity a center-of-charge world line and intrinsic magnetic dipole moment.

The purpose of this article is to explore the construct of congruence, particularly with regard to school-family collaboration and partnerships. An in-depth review of the empirical and theoretical literature supporting a shift in focus from encouraging family involvement to creating effective school-family partnerships is presented, followed by an…

We investigate the effect of location-congruent mobile messages on perceived intrusiveness, value, and relevance through a field experiment using the Experience Sampling Method (ESM). We developed a mobile application for undergraduate students, featuring campus news and information concerning class

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between status congruency and group cohesion in outdoor expedition groups in an educational setting. Specifically, three aspects of status congruency were assessed in relation to group cohesion in four adventure canoe groups. The groups participated in 2-week expeditions in the…

Introduction: Course outcomes have been assessed by examining the congruence between statements of commitment to change (CTCs) and course objectives. Other forms of postcourse reflective exercises (for example, impact and unmet-needs statements) have not been examined for congruence with course objectives or their utility in assessing course…

The effect of a small amount of noise on the standard mapping is considered. Whenever the standard mapping possesses accelerator models (where the action increases approximately linearly with time), the diffusion coefficient contains a term proportional to the reciprocal of the variance of the noise term. At large values of the stochasticity parameter, the accelerator modes exhibit a universal behavior. As a result the dependence of the diffusion coefficient on stochasticity parameter also shows some universal behavior

The Nintendo Wii Balance Board (WBB) has become popular as a low-cost alternative to research-grade force plates. The purposes of this study were to characterize a series of technical specifications for the WBB, to compare balance control metrics derived from time-varying center of pressure (COP) signals collected simultaneously from a WBB and a research-grade force plate, and to investigate the effects of battery life. Drift, linearity, hysteresis, mass accuracy, uniformity of response, and COP accuracy were assessed from a WBB. In addition, 6 participants completed an eyes-closed quiet standing task on the WBB (at 3 battery life levels) mounted on a force plate while sway was simultaneously measured by both systems. Characterization results were all associated with less than 1% error. R 2 values reflecting WBB sensor linearity were > .99. Known and measured COP differences were lowest at the center of the WBB and greatest at the corners. Between-device differences in quiet stance COP summary metrics were of limited clinical significance. Lastly, battery life did not affect WBB COP accuracy, but did influence 2 of 8 quiet stance WBB parameters. This study provides general support for the WBB as a low-cost alternative to research-grade force plates for quantifying COP movement during standing.

We examined the event-related brain potentials elicited by color-word stimuli in a Stroop task in which healthy participants (young and old) had to judge whether the meaning and the color of the stimulus were congruent or incongruent. The Stroop effect occurred in both age groups, with longer reaction times in the older group than in the young group for both types of stimuli, but no difference in the number of errors made by either group. Although the N2 and P3b latencies were longer in the older than in the younger group, there were no differences between groups in the latencies of earlier event-related potential components, and therefore the age-related processing slowing is not generalized. The frontal P150 amplitude was larger, and the parietal P3b amplitude was smaller, in the older than in the younger group. Furthermore, the P3b amplitude was maximal at frontal locations in older participants and at parietal locations in young participants. The age-related increase in perceptual resources and the posterior-to-anterior shift in older adults support adaptive reorganization of the neural networks involved in the processing of this Stroop-type task.

Full Text Available We examined the event-related brain potentials elicited by colour-word stimuli in a Stroop task in which healthy participants (young and old had to judge whether the meaning and the colour of the stimulus were congruent or incongruent. The Stroop effect occurred in both age groups, with longer reaction times in the older group than in the young group for both types of stimuli, but no difference in the number of errors made by either group. Although the N2 and P3b latencies were longer in the older than in the younger group, there were no differences between groups in the latencies of earlier ERP components, and therefore the age-related processing slowing is not generalized. The frontal P150 amplitude was larger, and the P3b amplitude was smaller, in the older than in the younger group. Furthermore, the P3b amplitude was maximal at frontal locations in older participants and at parietal locations in young participants. The age-related increase in perceptual resources and the posterior-to-anterior shift in older adults support adaptive reorganization of the neural networks involved in the processing of this Stroop-type task.

Digital image correlation has been routinely used to measure full-field displacements in many areas of solid mechanics, including fracture mechanics. Accurate segmentation of the crack path is needed to study its interaction with the microstructure and stress fields, and studies of crack behaviour, such as the effect of closure or residual stress in fatigue, require data on its opening displacement. Such information can be obtained from any digital image correlation analysis of cracked components, but it collection by manual methods is quite onerous, particularly for massive amounts of data. We introduce the novel application of Phase Congruency to detect and quantify cracks and their opening. Unlike other crack detection techniques, Phase Congruency does not rely on adjustable threshold values that require user interaction, and so allows large datasets to be treated autonomously. The accuracy of the Phase Congruency based algorithm in detecting cracks is evaluated and compared with conventional methods such as Heaviside function fitting. As Phase Congruency is a displacement-based method, it does not suffer from the noise intensification to which gradient-based methods (e.g. strain thresholding) are susceptible. Its application is demonstrated to experimental data for cracks in quasi-brittle (Granitic rock) and ductile (Aluminium alloy) materials.

Full Text Available The present study scrutinized the impact of congruent topics on the quality of L2 reading comprehension. 56 Iranian advanced-level students read 2 texts on a controversial topic, one on the advantages of child gender selection, and the other on disadvantages. Quality analysis of immediate and delayed recall tasks, defined as the amount of high and low-level information recalled correctly, was performed by analysis of variance. Results revealed that topic congruence affected immediate recall of both high and low-level information, and also delayed recall of low-level information. Findings showed that the effect of congruent topics on reading recall was detrimental; participants recalled less information from the passage with congruent topic than a passage with incongruent topic. Outcomes of the study suggest that controversial topics should be selected more cautiously, because they may not truly reflect L2 readers’ reading comprehension.

Full Text Available By analogy with the low energy QCD effective linear sigma model, we construct a standard model effective potential based entirely on the requirement that the tree level and quantum level trace anomalies must be satisfied. We discuss a particular realization of this potential in connection with the Higgs boson mass and Higgs boson effective couplings to two photons and two gluons. We find that this kind of potential may describe well the known phenomenology of the Higgs boson.

With the increasing relevance of sexual minority concerns, including the process of navigating sexual and religious identities, clinical practice has focused on helping sexual minorities address methods of self-expression that are most congruent with the client's values. Sexual Identity Therapy (SIT), (Throckmorton & Yarhouse, 2006) has been developed to assist individuals who are seeking to address potential conflicts between religious and sexual identities by focusing on personal congruence. To facilitate this process, the practice of mindfulness is applied. As an adaptation from its spiritual origins, mindfulness is used to facilitate the treatment of various disorders, such as chronic pain, substance abuse, and depression. It has also been the crux of several different third-wave cognitive and behavioral therapies that consider the "… context and functions of psychological phenomena" (Hayes, 2004, p. 5) for the purpose of helping clients to develop "… broad, flexible and effective repertoires" (p. 6). In this instance, mindfulness is applied to SIT to assist individuals with same-sex attraction to become nonjudgmentally aware of their thoughts and feelings related to same-sex attraction such that they are able to experience their attractions in an open and honest manner without feeling compelled to either dismiss or augment these attractions. Mindful awareness of same-sex attraction facilitates congruence because there is less emphasis on changing behaviors, thoughts or feelings, but rather, changing the relationship the individual has to their experiences of same-sex attraction so that they are experienced as neutral, as opposed to aversive. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

Workplace expectations reflect an important consideration in employee experience. A higher prevalence of workplace congruence between worker and employer expectations has been associated with higher levels of productivity and overall workplace satisfaction across multiple occupational groups. Little research has investigated the relationship between workplace congruence and occupational health outcomes among social service workers. This study sought to better understand the extent to which occupational congruence contributes to occupational outcomes by surveying unionised social service workers ( n = 674) employed with the Government of Alberta, Canada. Multiple regression analysis shows that greater congruence between workplace and worker expectations around workloads, workplace values and the quality of the work environment significantly: (i) decreases symptoms related to distress and secondary traumatic stress; (ii) decreases intentions to leave; and (iii) increases overall life satisfaction. The findings provide some evidence of areas within the workplace of large government run social welfare programmes that can be better aligned to worker expectations to improve occupational outcomes among social service workers.

... (as measured using a multi-variant set of workload/congruence metrics) the better will that organization perform, and that mismatches are potential drivers for the adaptation of organization structure...

In 3 studies, the authors found support for the value-congruence model that accounts for cultural variations in memory for emotional experiences. In Study 1, the authors found that in the made-in-the-U.S. scenario condition, European Americans were more accurate than were Asian Americans in their retrospective frequency judgments of emotions. However, in the made-in-Japan scenario condition, European Americans were less accurate than were Asian Americans. In Study 2, the authors demonstrated that value orientation mediates the CulturexType of Event congruenceeffect. In Study 3 (a daily event sampling study), the authors showed that the congruenceeffect was explained by the importance of parental approval. In sum, emotional events congruent with personal values remain in memory longer and influence retrospective frequency judgments of emotion more than do incongruent events. (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the stability of three distinct tutor behaviors (1) use of subject-matter expertise, (2) social congruence and (3) cognitive congruence, in a problem-based learning (PBL) environment. The data comprised the input from 16,047 different students to a survey of 762 tutors administered in three consecutive semesters. Over the three semesters each tutor taught two of the same course and one different course. A generalizability study was conducted to determine whether the tutor behaviors were generalizable across the three measurement occasions. The results indicate that three semesters are sufficient to make generalizations about all three tutor behaviors. In addition the results show that individual differences between tutors account for the greatest differences in levels of expertise, social congruence and cognitive congruence. The study concludes that tutor behaviors are fairly consistent in PBL and somewhat impervious to change. Implications of these findings for tutor training are discussed.

Full Text Available The role of species’ interactions in structuring biological communities remains unclear. Mutualistic symbioses, involving close positive interactions between two distinct organismal lineages, provide an excellent means to explore the roles of both evolutionary and ecological processes in determining how positive interactions affect community structure. In this study, we investigate patterns of co-diversification between fungi and algae for a range of New Zealand lichens at the community, genus, and species levels and explore explanations for possible patterns related to spatial scale and pattern, taxonomic diversity of the lichens considered, and the level sampling replication. We assembled six independent datasets to compare patterns in phylogenetic congruence with varied spatial extent of sampling, taxonomic diversity and level of specimen replication. For each dataset, we used the DNA sequences from the ITS regions of both the fungal and algal genomes from lichen specimens to produce genetic distance matrices. Phylogenetic congruence between fungi and algae was quantified using distance-based redundancy analysis and we used geographic distance matrices in Moran’s eigenvector mapping and variance partitioning to evaluate the effects of spatial variation on the quantification of phylogenetic congruence. Phylogenetic congruence was highly significant for all datasets and a large proportion of variance in both algal and fungal genetic distances was explained by partner genetic variation. Spatial variables, primarily at large and intermediate scales, were also important for explaining genetic diversity patterns in all datasets. Interestingly, spatial structuring was stronger for fungal than algal genetic variation. As the spatial extent of the samples increased, so too did the proportion of explained variation that was shared between the spatial variables and the partners’ genetic variation. Different lichen taxa showed some variation in

Effective management of the nation's water resources is dependent upon accurate and consistent hydrologic information. Before the emergence of environmental concerns in the 1960's, most hydrologic information was collected by the U.S. Geological Survey and other Federal agencies that used fairly consistent methods and equipment. In the past quarter century, however, increased environmental awareness has resulted in an expansion of hydrologic data collection not only by Federal agencies, but also by state and municipal governments, university investigators, and private consulting firms. The acceptance and use of standard methods of collecting and processing hydrologic data would contribute to cost savings and to greater credibility of flow information vital to responsible assessment and management of the nation's water resources. This paper traces the evolution of the requirements and uses of open-channel flow information in the U.S., and the sequence of efforts to standardize the methods used to obtain this information in the future. The variable nature of naturally flowing rivers results in continually changing hydraulic properties of their channels. Those persons responsible for measurement of water flowing in open channels (streamflow) must use a large amount of judgement in the selection of appropriate equipment and technique to obtain accurate flow information. Standardization of the methods used in the measurement of streamflow is essential to assure consistency of data, but must also allow considerable latitude for individual judgement to meet constantly changing field conditions.

The image feature detection is widely used in image registration, image stitching and object recognition. The feature detection algorithm can be applied to the detection of artificial images, and can be used to detect the energy spectrum CT image. A new algorithm of phase consistency detection based on dimensionality reduction is proposed in this paper. We mainly focus on the phase congruency of the spectral CT images in the paper and try to use dimensionality reduction to integrate the information of phase congruency detected in the image. The experimental results show that the algorithm can detect the energy spectrum CT image with clear edge and contour, which is beneficial to the subsequent processing. Meanwhile, the algorithm presented is more effective in diagnosis of disease for medical professionals.

Full Text Available Abstract Background Efficient multisensory integration is of vital importance for adequate interaction with the environment. In addition to basic binding cues like temporal and spatial coherence, meaningful multisensory information is also bound together by content-based associations. Many functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI studies propose the (posterior superior temporal cortex (STC as the key structure for integrating meaningful multisensory information. However, a still unanswered question is how superior temporal cortex encodes content-based associations, especially in light of inconsistent results from studies comparing brain activation to semantically matching (congruent versus nonmatching (incongruent multisensory inputs. Here, we used fMR-adaptation (fMR-A in order to circumvent potential problems with standard fMRI approaches, including spatial averaging and amplitude saturation confounds. We presented repetitions of audiovisual stimuli (letter-speech sound pairs and manipulated the associative relation between the auditory and visual inputs (congruent/incongruent pairs. We predicted that if multisensory neuronal populations exist in STC and encode audiovisual content relatedness, adaptation should be affected by the manipulated audiovisual relation. Results The results revealed an occipital-temporal network that adapted independently of the audiovisual relation. Interestingly, several smaller clusters distributed over superior temporal cortex within that network, adapted stronger to congruent than to incongruent audiovisual repetitions, indicating sensitivity to content congruency. Conclusions These results suggest that the revealed clusters contain multisensory neuronal populations that encode content relatedness by selectively responding to congruent audiovisual inputs, since unisensory neuronal populations are assumed to be insensitive to the audiovisual relation. These findings extend our previously revealed mechanism for

Full Text Available Understanding how carbon and biodiversity vary across tropical forest landscapes is essential to achieving effective conservation of their respective hotspots in a global context of high deforestation. Whether conservation strategies aimed at protecting carbon hotspots can provide co-benefits for biodiversity protection, and vice versa, highly depends on the extent to which carbon and biodiversity co-occur at the landscape level. We used field measurements and easily accessible explanatory variables to model aboveground carbon density, soil carbon density and tree alpha diversity (response variables over a mostly forested area of northern Borneo. We assessed the spatial relationships between response variables and the spatial congruence of their hotspots. We found a significant positive relationship between aboveground carbon density and tree alpha diversity, and an above-than-expected-by-chance spatial congruence of their hotspots. Consequently, the protection of areas of high aboveground carbon density through financial mechanisms such as REDD+ is expected to benefit tree diversity conservation in the study area. On the other hand, relationships between soil carbon density and both aboveground carbon density and tree alpha diversity were negative and spatial congruences null. Hotspots of soil carbon density, mostly located in peatlands, therefore need specific conservation regulations, which the current moratorium on peat conversion in Indonesia is a first step toward.

In this article we define a new family of subgroups of Fuchsian groups H(√{m}) , for a squarefree positive integer m , and calculate their index in H(√{m}) and their parabolic class number. Moreover, we will show that the index of these subgroups is closely related to the solvability of a quadratic congruence x2≡ m(mod n) and the number of inequivalent solutions of a quadratic congruence x2≡ 1(mod n) . Finally, we will show that the results obtained by Yilmaz and Keskin [Acta Math. Sin 25 (2005), 215-222] are immediate corollaries of one of the main theorems of this article.

The powerful emotion inducing properties of music are well-known, yet music may convey differing emotional responses depending on environmental factors. We hypothesized that neural mechanisms involved in listening to music may differ when presented together with visual stimuli that conveyed the same emotion as the music when compared to visual stimuli with incongruent emotional content. We designed this study to determine the effect of auditory (happy and sad instrumental music) and visual stimuli (happy and sad faces) congruent or incongruent for emotional content on audiovisual processing using fMRI blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signal contrast. The experiment was conducted in the context of a conventional block-design experiment. A block consisted of three emotional ON periods, music alone (happy or sad music), face alone (happy or sad faces), and music combined with faces where the music excerpt was played while presenting either congruent emotional faces or incongruent emotional faces. We found activity in the superior temporal gyrus (STG) and fusiform gyrus (FG) to be differentially modulated by music and faces depending on the congruence of emotional content. There was a greater BOLD response in STG when the emotion signaled by the music and faces was congruent. Furthermore, the magnitude of these changes differed for happy congruence and sad congruence, i.e., the activation of STG when happy music was presented with happy faces was greater than the activation seen when sad music was presented with sad faces. In contrast, incongruent stimuli diminished the BOLD response in STG and elicited greater signal change in bilateral FG. Behavioral testing supplemented these findings by showing that subject ratings of emotion in faces were influenced by emotion in music. When presented with happy music, happy faces were rated as more happy (p=0.051) and sad faces were rated as less sad (p=0.030). When presented with sad music, happy faces were rated as less

In their seminal paper, Edwards and Parry (1993) presented the polynomial regression as a better alternative to applying difference score in the study of congruence. Although this method is increasingly applied in congruence research, its complexity relative to other methods for assessing congruence (e.g., difference score methods) was one of the…

Questions current emphasis on standardized tests and discusses several factors about the tests that should prompt reevaluation of their usefulness. Issues discussed include: development and design of standardized tests; the correlation between test scores and socioeconomic position; the discrepancy between test designs and accurate reflection of…

Presented is a method for finding two triangles that have five pairs of congruent parts, yet fail to be congruent. The solution is thought to involve some creative insights that should challenge both the teacher and students to recall and analyze all the congruence axioms and theorems. (MP)

However, for optimum performance of extension agents, adequate role perception should be accompanied by other factors such as resource availability, transportation, training, promotional opportunities and other incentives for increasing the impact of extension agents. Keywords: Congruency, Role perception, Role ...

Parents completed the Locke-Wallace Scale, the Interpersonal Checklist, and the Children's Behavior Checklist to assess marital satisfaction, congruence of perceptions, and agreement in perceptions of their child and child adjustment. Variables were positively intercorrelated. Similarity in partners' self-concepts and psychological empathy were…

The behavior of two topological and four character-based congruence measures was explored using different indel treatments in three empirical data sets, each with different alignment difficulties. The analyses were done using direct optimization within a sensitivity analysis framework in which...

Library quality is no longer evaluated solely on the value of its collections, as user perceptions of service quality play an increasingly important role in defining overall library value. This paper presents a retooling of the LibQUAL+ survey instrument, blending the gap measurement model with perceptual congruence model studies from information…

Introduction. Divisibility is an essential property between elements of algebraic structures. As we know, the concept of congruence originates from that of divisibility and it is not only a convenient notation but also a very helpful method to prove many theorems in number theory. For this reason, almost every textbook for ...

Workplace expectations reflect an important consideration in employee experience. A higher prevalence of workplace congruence between worker and employer expectations has been associated with higher levels of productivity and overall workplace satisfaction across multiple occupational groups. Little research has investigated the relationship between workplace congruence and occupational health outcomes among social service workers. This study sought to better understand the extent to which occupational congruence contributes to occupational outcomes by surveying unionised social service workers (n = 674) employed with the Government of Alberta, Canada. Multiple regression analysis shows that greater congruence between workplace and worker expectations around workloads, workplace values and the quality of the work environment significantly: (i) decreases symptoms related to distress and secondary traumatic stress; (ii) decreases intentions to leave; and (iii) increases overall life satisfaction. The findings provide some evidence of areas within the workplace of large government run social welfare programmes that can be better aligned to worker expectations to improve occupational outcomes among social service workers. PMID:27559216

The Congruence Lattice Problem (CLP), stated by R. P. Dilworth in the forties, asks whether every distributive {∨, 0}-semilatticeS is isomorphic to the semilattice Conc L of compact congruences of a lattice L. While this problem is still open, many partial solutions have been obtained, positive and negative as well. The solution to CLP is known to be positive for all S such that $|S|\\leq\\aleph\\_1$. Furthermore, one can then take L with permutable congruences. This contrasts with the case where $|S| \\geq\\aleph\\_2$, where there are counterexamples S for which L cannot be, for example, sectionally complemented. We prove in this paper that the lattices of these counterexamples cannot have permutable congruences as well. We also isolate ﬁnite, combinatorial analogues of these results. All the "ﬁnite" statements that we obtain are amalgamation properties of the Conc functor. The strongest known positive results, which originate in earlier work by the ﬁrst author, imply tha...

OSHA is confirming the effective date of its direct final rule that revises a number of standards for general industry that refer to national consensus standards. The direct final rule states that it would become effective on March 13, 2008 unless OSHA receives significant adverse comment on these revisions by January 14, 2008. OSHA received no adverse comments by that date and, therefore, is confirming that the rule will become effective on March 13, 2008.

We study hard hadronic collisions for the proton-proton (pp) and the proton-antiproton (p anti p) option in the CERN LEP tunnel. Based on our current knowledge of hard collisions at the present CERN p anti p Collider, and with the help of quantum chromodynamics (QCD), we extrapolate to the next generation of hadron colliders with a centre-of-mass energy E/sub cm/ = 10 to 20 TeV. We estimate various signatures, trigger rates, event topologies, and associated distributions for a variety of old and new physical processes, involving prompt photons, leptons, jets, W +- and Z bosons in the final state. We also calculate the maximum fermion and boson masses accessible at the LEP Hadron Collider. The standard QCD and electroweak processes studied here, being the main body of standard hard collisions, quantify the challenge of extracting new physics with hadron colliders. We hope that our estimates will provide a useful profile of the final states, and that our experimental physics colleagues will find this of use in the design of their detectors. 84 references

We study hard hadronic collisions for the proton-proton (pp) and the proton-antiproton (panti p) option in the CERN LEP tunnel. Based on our current knowledge of hard collisions at the present CERN panti p Collider, and with the help of quantum chromodynamics (QCD), we extrapolate to the next generation of hadron colliders with a centre-of-mass energy Esub(cm) = 10-20 TeV. We estimate various signatures, trigger rates, event topologies, and associated distributions for a variety of old and new physical processes, involving prompt photons, leptons, jets, Wsup(+-) and Z bosons in the final state. We also calculate the maximum fermion and boson masses accessible at the LEP Hadron Collider. The standard QCD and electroweak processes studied here, being the main body of standard hard collisions, quantify the challenge of extracting new physics with hadron colliders. We hope that our estimates will provide a useful profile of the final states, and that our experimental physics colleagues will find this of use in the design of their detectors. (orig.)

It is shown that operations of equivalence cannot serve for building algebras which would induce orthomodular lattices as the operations of implication can. Several properties of equivalence operations have been investigated. Distributivity of equivalence terms and several other 3 variable expressions involving equivalence terms have been proved to hold in any orthomodular lattice. Symmetric differences have been shown to reduce to complements of equivalence terms. Some congruence relations related to equivalence operations and symmetric differences have been considered.

We study and report on the class of vacuum Maxwell fields in Minkowski space that possess a non-degenerate, diverging, principal null vector field (null eigenvector field of the Maxwell tensor) that is tangent to a shear-free null geodesics congruence. These congruences can be either surface forming (the tangent vectors being proportional to gradients) or not, i.e., the twisting congruences. In the non-twisting case, the associated Maxwell fields are precisely the Lienard-Wiechert fields, i.e., those Maxwell fields arising from an electric monopole moving on an arbitrary worldline. The null geodesic congruence is given by the generators of the light-cones with apex on the worldline. The twisting case is much richer, more interesting and far more complicated. In a twisting subcase, where our main interests lie, the following strange interpretation can be given. If we allow the real Minkowski space to be complexified so that the real Minkowski coordinates x a take complex values, i.e., x a → z a = x a + iy a with complex metric g η ab dz a dz b , the real vacuum Maxwell equations can be extended into the complex space and rewritten as curl W=i W radical, div W=0 with W=E+iB. This subcase of Maxwell fields can then be extended into the complex space so as to have as source, a complex analytic worldline, i.e., to now become complex Lienard-Wiechart fields. When viewed as real fields on the real Minkowski space (z a = x a ), they possess a real principal null vector that is shear-free but twisting and diverging. The twist is a measure of how far the complex worldline is from the real 'slice'. Most Maxwell fields in this subcase are asymptotically flat with a time-varying set of electric and magnetic moments, all depending on the complex displacements and the complex velocities

Full Text Available This paper deals with the correction of exterior orientation parameters of stereo image sequences over deformed free-form surfaces without control points. Such imaging situation can occur, for example, during photogrammetric car crash test recordings where onboard high-speed stereo cameras are used to measure 3D surfaces. As a result of such measurements 3D point clouds of deformed surfaces are generated for a complete stereo sequence. The first objective of this research focusses on the development and investigation of methods for the detection of corresponding spatial and temporal tie points within the stereo image sequences (by stereo image matching and 3D point tracking that are robust enough for a reliable handling of occlusions and other disturbances that may occur. The second objective of this research is the analysis of object deformations in order to detect stable areas (congruence analysis. For this purpose a RANSAC-based method for congruence analysis has been developed. This process is based on the sequential transformation of randomly selected point groups from one epoch to another by using a 3D similarity transformation. The paper gives a detailed description of the congruence analysis. The approach has been tested successfully on synthetic and real image data.

Identifying biodiversity hotspots has become a central issue in setting up priority protection areas, especially as financial resources for biological diversity conservation are limited. Taking China’s Higher Plants Red List (CHPRL), including Bryophytes, Ferns, Gymnosperms, Angiosperms, as the data source, we analyzed the geographic patterns of species richness, endemism, and endangerment via data processing at a fine grid-scale with an average edge length of 30 km based on three aspects of richness information: species richness, endemic species richness, and threatened species richness. We sought to test the accuracy of hotspots used in identifying conservation priorities with regard to higher plants. Next, we tested the congruence of the three aspects and made a comparison of the similarities and differences between the hotspots described in this paper and those in previous studies. We found that over 90% of threatened species in China are concentrated. While a high spatial congruence is observed among the three measures, there is a low congruence between two different sets of hotspots. Our results suggest that biodiversity information should be considered when identifying biological hotspots. Other factors, such as scales, should be included as well to develop biodiversity conservation plans in accordance with the region’s specific conditions.

In this report, after recalling the mode of action of ionizing radiations, the notions of dose, dose equivalents and the values of natural irradiation, the author describes the biological radiation effects. Then he presents the ICRP recommendations and their applications to the french radioprotection system

Application of antitumor chemotherapeutic drugs is hindered by a number of barriers, multidrug resistance that makes effective drug deposition inside cancer cells difficult is among them. Recent research shows that potential efficiency of anticancer drugs can be increased with nanoparticles. This review is devoted to the application of nanoparticles for cancer treatment. Various types of nanoparticles currently used in medicine are reviewed. The nanoparticles that have been used for cancer therapy and targeted drug delivery to damaged sites of organism are described. Also, the possibility of nanoparticles application for cancer diagnosis that could help early detection of tumors is discussed. Our investigations of antitumor activity of low-dimensional nanostructures based on aluminum oxides and hydroxides are briefly reviewed.

Full Text Available The study presented in this article relies on the principles of the cultural-historical theory, which defines cultural impact as the main driving force behind psychological development. Based on the assumption that culture is a set of normative situations, the study identifies rules that are typical for primary school students in big Russian cities. These rules are grouped into what we refer to as factors of cultural compliance, which ultimately can be seen as indicators of pupils’ cultural congruence. In specifying the cultural congruence of primary school students, we take into account not only the rules of school life but also the whole range of stable rules for children 7- to 10-years-old. Researchers at the Psychology Institute of the Higher University of the Chinese Academy of Science (Wang, Zhu, & Shi, 2011 call such rules usual or contextually usual. We include rules that govern the behavior of children who have cultural differences, so in this article we are talking about the rules that are typical for children of this age in Russia. The goal of the study was to develop a test to diagnose the level of cultural congruence. The test was exposed to psychometric evaluation for validity, reliability, and discriminatory power. Factor analysis by means of varimax rotation provided for calibration of the rules by consolidating them into factors. These factors underpin the test and include the categories social interaction, academic competence, regulation, obedience, self-service, and self-control. In accordance with the principles employed in psychology, the factors confirm the construct validity of the test in relation to children’s development when they are between 7 and 10 years old. The study confirms that learning is the main activity at this age by introducing a factor that brings together rules inherent in normative situations in the education process. The social setting for psychological development, viewed as a specific

Research discloses that principals' effectiveness influences student success (Stronge, 2008). This study examined the extent of congruence between the daily activities and espousals of four middle school principals, and the extent their daily activities were artifacts of their values and beliefs about leadership. Also, this study examined if…

This report describes the 1966 amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act and summarizes the findings of three 1969 studies of the economic effects of these amendments. The studies found that economic growth continued through the third phase of the amendments, beginning February 1, 1969, despite increased wage and hours restrictions for recently…

This monograph is devoted to the nonperturbative dynamics in the Standard Model (SM), the basic theory of all, but gravity, fundamental interactions in nature. The Standard Model is devided into two parts: the Quantum chromodynamics (QCD) and the Electro-weak theory (EWT) are well-defined renormalizable theories in which the perturbation theory is valid. However, for the adequate description of the real physics nonperturbative effects are inevitable. This book describes how these nonperturbative effects may be obtained in the framework of spontaneous generation of effective interactions. The well-known example of such effective interaction is provided by the famous Nambu--Jona-Lasinio effective interaction. Also a spontaneous generation of this interaction in the framework of QCD is described and applied to the method for other effective interactions in QCD and EWT. The method is based on N.N. Bogoliubov conception of compensation equations. As a result we then describe the principle feathures of the Standard...

This study examined student-teacher goal congruence and its relation to social and academic motivation. Based on a sample of 97 ninth-graders, high levels of goal congruence for each of the four goals measured (prosocial, responsibility, learning, performance) was positively related to student interest in class and perceived social support from…

values. Teamwork orientation was significantly associated with personal learning independent of the degree of perceived value congruence between individual member and other team members.Practical or managerial implications: Our study offers implications for managing teams and facilitating employee learning and development in organisations. The study may also benefit teachers in higher education in facilitating students’ learning through group activities.Contribution or value-added: This study provides initial evidence on the contingent effect of power distance and uncertainty avoidance in the collectivism–teamwork orientation relationship. The study further contributes to the existing literature on the effects of preference to work in teams by assessing the influence of teamwork orientation on personal learning in addition to considering the role of perceived value congruence in this relationship.

-power distance values. Teamwork orientation was significantly associated with personal learning independent of the degree of perceived value congruence between individual member and other team members. Practical or managerial implications: Our study offers implications for managing teams and facilitating employee learning and development in organisations. The study may also benefit teachers in higher education in facilitating students’ learning through group activities. Contribution or value-added: This study provides initial evidence on the contingent effect of power distance and uncertainty avoidance in the collectivism–teamwork orientation relationship. The study further contributes to the existing literature on the effects of preference to work in teams by assessing the influence of teamwork orientation on personal learning in addition to considering the role of perceived value congruence in this relationship.

1.1 This practice describes the procedure used to determine the effect of cleaners on unpainted aircraft surfaces. Visual observation is used for determining streaking or permanent stains which require polishing to remove. 1.2 The values stated in inch-pound units are to be regarded as the standard. The values given in parentheses are for information. 1.3 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety and health practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use.

We treat the Standard Model as the low-energy limit of an effective field theory that incorporates higher-dimensional operators to capture the effects of decoupled new physics. We consider the constraints imposed on the coefficients of dimension-6 operators by electroweak precision tests (EWPTs), applying a framework for the effects of dimension-6 operators on electroweak precision tests that is more general than the standard $S,T$ formalism, and use measurements of Higgs couplings and the kinematics of associated Higgs production at the Tevatron and LHC, as well as triple-gauge couplings at the LHC. We highlight the complementarity between EWPTs, Tevatron and LHC measurements in obtaining model-independent limits on the effectiveStandard Model after LHC Run~1. We illustrate the combined constraints with the example of the two-Higgs doublet model.

We treat the Standard Model as the low-energy limit of an effective field theory that incorporates higher-dimensional operators to capture the effects of decoupled new physics. We consider the constraints imposed on the coefficients of dimension-6 operators by electroweak precision tests (EWPTs), applying a framework for the effects of dimension-6 operators on electroweak precision tests that is more general than the standard S,T formalism, and use measurements of Higgs couplings and the kinematics of associated Higgs production at the Tevatron and LHC, as well as triple-gauge couplings at the LHC. We highlight the complementarity between EWPTs, Tevatron and LHC measurements in obtaining model-independent limits on the effectiveStandard Model after LHC Run 1. We illustrate the combined constraints with the example of the two-Higgs doublet model.

Although we live in a multisensory world, children's memory has been usually studied concentrating on only one sensory modality at a time. In this study, we investigated how audiovisual encoding affects recognition memory. Children (n = 114) from three age groups (8, 10 and 12 years) memorized auditory or visual stimuli presented with a semantically congruent, incongruent or non-semantic stimulus in the other modality during encoding. Subsequent recognition memory performance was better for auditory or visual stimuli initially presented together with a semantically congruent stimulus in the other modality than for stimuli accompanied by a non-semantic stimulus in the other modality. This congruencyeffect was observed for pictures presented with sounds, for sounds presented with pictures, for spoken words presented with pictures and for written words presented with spoken words. The present results show that semantically congruent multisensory experiences during encoding can improve memory performance in school-aged children.

Four groups of healthy women matched for age and IQ were reliably classified on the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire as being either high or low in extraversion or neuroticism. As part of a larger research project, each participant was administered a range of psychometric measures together with three paired-associate learning lists varying in hedonic tone and difficulty levels together with the Beck Depression Inventory. Performance on the hedonic lists covaried with personality categories but, unlike what typically obtains in clinical patients, less association emerged between performance and mood states. Performance was particularly polarized in women scoring high in neuroticism but low in extraversion. Speculations about the apparent correlates of so-called mood congruence in healthy subjects are put forward and parallels are drawn with studies reporting the phenomenon in clinically depressed patients.

Full Text Available A novel procedure using phase congruency is proposed for discriminating some lung disease using chest radiograph. Phase congruency provides information about transitions between adjacent pixels. Abrupt changes of phase congruency values between pixels may suggest a possible boundary or another feature that may be used for discrimination. This property of phase congruency may have potential for deciding between disease present and disease absent where the regions of infection on the images have no obvious shape, size, or configuration. Five texture measures calculated from phase congruency and Gabor were shown to be normally distributed. This gave good indicators of discrimination errors in the form of the probability of Type I Error (δ and the probability of Type II Error (β. However, since 1 − δ is the true positive fraction (TPF and β is the false positive fraction (FPF, an ROC analysis was used to decide on the choice of texture measures. Given that features are normally distributed, for the discrimination between disease present and disease absent, energy, contrast, and homogeneity from phase congruency gave better results compared to those using Gabor. Similarly, for the more difficult problem of discriminating lobar pneumonia and lung cancer, entropy and homogeneity from phase congruency gave better results relative to Gabor.

Full Text Available Even though a number of studies have demonstrated the importance of photoautotrophic organisms in spring habitats, investigations that consider several photoautotrophic taxonomic groups are lacking. Within the framework of a multidisciplinary project on springs of the south-eastern Alps, we studied algae, diatoms, lichens, and bryophytes and (1 compared the alpha, beta and gamma diversity, and the composition of the studied groups between carbonate and siliceous springs, (2 estimated the nonrandomness of species combinations within organismal groups, and (3 examined the congruence in species assemblage patterns across taxonomic groups. In 40 springs, 69 species of algae, 110 species of diatoms, 29 species of lichens, and 62 species of bryophytes were found. Diatoms, lichens and bryophytes had higher species-richness in siliceous springs, while other algae had higher richness in carbonate springs. For all taxonomic groups, carbonate and siliceous springs host different assemblages, indicating that both types of substrata contribute to the overall regional diversity of spring photoautotrophs. In individual springs, the photoautotroph groups are characterised by a similar proportion of species of their regional pool, and form relatively speciespoor communities with a high turnover of species among springs. This pattern has important implications for conservation, suggesting that the protection of single sites might not be effective, and that a biodiversity conservation plan for spring habitats should be developed at the regional level, and include a network of sites. Interestingly, the co-occurrence indices suggested that, in individual springs, stochastic processes might the most important mechanisms in the establishment of local assemblages. A weak cross-taxon congruency was found, suggesting that a single taxon surrogate will not adequately represent other photoautotrophic groups. Therefore, spring conservation plans for photoautotrophs should

This paper deals with the result of a study carried out for the European Commission by the SWOV Institute for Road Safety Research, in cooperation with a number of other European institutes, and which was reported in 1994. The title of the study is "Safety Effects of Road Design Standards." The aims

Building Codes are increasingly required to be responsive to social and economic policy concerns. In 1990 the State of Connecticut passes An Act Concerning Global Warming, Public Act 90-219, which mandates the revision of the state building code to require that buildings and building elements be designed to provide optimum cost-effective energy efficiency over the useful life of the building. Further, such revision must meet the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Standard 90.1 - 1989. As the largest electric energy supplier in Connecticut, Northeast Utilities (NU) sponsored a pilot study of the cost effectiveness of alternative building code standards for commercial construction. This paper reports on this study which analyzed design and construction means, building elements, incremental construction costs, and energy savings to determine the optimum cost-effective building code standard. Findings are that ASHRAE 90.1 results in 21% energy savings and alternative standards above it result in significant additional savings. Benefit/cost analysis showed that both are cost effective

Full Text Available Background: Permethrin is the drug of choice for scabies with side effects such as erythema, pain, itching and prickling sensation. Whole-body (standard topical application of permethrin causes discomfort; thus, modified application of permethrin to the lesion only, followed with baths twice daily using soap was proposed. The objective of the study is to know the effectiveness of standard against lesion-only application of permethrin in scabies treatment.Methods: An experimental study was conducted in pesantren in East Jakarta and data was collected in May-July 2012. Diagnosis of scabies was made through anamnesis and skin examination. Subjects positive for scabies were divided into three groups: one standard method group (whole-body topical application and two modified groups (lesion-only application followed by the use of regular soap and antiseptic soap group. The three groups were evaluated weekly for three consecutive weeks. Data was processed using SPSS 20 and analyzed by Kruskal-Wallis test.Results: Total of 94 subjects was scabies positive (prevalence 50% but only 69 subjects were randomly picked to be analyzed. The cure rate at the end of week III of the standard method group was 95.7%, modified treatment followed by the use of regular soap was 91.3%, and modified treatment followed by the use of antiseptic soap was 78.3% (p = 0.163. The recurrence rate of standard treatment was 8.7%, modified treatment followed by the use of regular soap was 13% and modified treatment followed by the use of antiseptic soap was 26.1% (p = 0.250.Conclusion: The standard scabies treatment was as effective as the modified scabies treatment.

Full Text Available We examined whether the relations of consistency between ideal standards and perceptions of a current romantic partner with partner acceptance and relationship satisfaction level off, or decelerate, above a threshold. We tested our hypothesis using a 3-year longitudinal data set collected from heterosexual newlywed couples. We used two indicators of consistency: pattern correspondence (within-person correlation between ideal standards and perceived partner ratings and mean-level match (difference between ideal standards score and perceived partner score. Our results revealed that pattern correspondence had no relation with partner acceptance, but a positive linear/exponential association with relationship satisfaction. Mean-level match had a significant positive association with actor’s acceptance and relationship satisfaction up to the point where perceived partner score equaled ideal standards score. Partner effects did not show a consistent pattern. The results suggest that the consistency between ideal standards and perceived partner attributes has a non-linear association with acceptance and relationship satisfaction, although the results were more conclusive for mean-level match.

By integrating results from literature pertaining to social psychology, organizational behavior, and relationship marketing, the authors develop and test a model that explains how value congruence affects the key components of consumer-brand relationship quality and outcomes, including satisfaction,

The objective of our study was to evaluate the in vitro wear behavior of fixed bearing designs for total knee arthroplasty in relation to contact mechanics and resultant kinematics for different degrees of congruency. a finite element model was created for three knee articulations with increasing degrees of tibio-femoral congruency (flat, curved, and dished design). For the three different knee design configurations, in vitro wear simulation was performed according to iso 14243-1. Contact areas increased with increasing knee congruency, whereas the peak surface contact stresses decreased. The wear rates for the knee design configurations differed substantially between the three test groups (flat, curved, and dished). our observations demonstrate that increased congruency in conjunction with decreased surface contact stresses significantly contributes to reducing wear in fixed bearing knee articulations.

We show that (specifically scaled) equations of shear-free null geodesic congruences on the Minkowski space-time possess intrinsic self-dual, restricted gauge and algebraic structures. The complex eikonal, Weyl 2-spinor, SL(2, ℂ) Yang-Mills and complex Maxwell fields, the latter produced by integer-valued electric charges (“elementary” for the Kerr-like congruences), can all be explicitly associated with any shear-free null geodesic congruence. Using twistor variables, we derive the general solution of the equations of the shear-free null geodesic congruence (as a modification of the Kerr theorem) and analyze the corresponding “particle-like” field distributions, with bounded singularities of the associated physical fields. These can be obtained in a straightforward algebraic way and exhibit nontrivial collective dynamics simulating physical interactions.

By integrating results from literature pertaining to social psychology, organizational behavior, and relationship marketing, the authors develop and test a model that explains how value congruence affects the key components of consumer-brand relationship quality and outcomes, including

Assume that n is a positive integer. If there is an integer such that M (2) ≡ C (mod n), i.e., the congruence has a solution, then C is said to be a quadratic congruence (mod n). If the congruence does not have a solution, then C is said to be a quadratic noncongruence (mod n). The task of solving the problem is central to many important applications, the most obvious being cryptography. In this article, we describe a DNA-based algorithm for solving quadratic congruence and factoring integers. In additional to this novel contribution, we also show the utility of our encoding scheme, and of the algorithm's submodules. We demonstrate how a variety of arithmetic, shifted and comparative operations, namely bitwise and full addition, subtraction, left shifter and comparison perhaps are performed using strands of DNA.

It is shown that a problem of construction of a local congruence of null strings is equivalent to a natural Cauchy--Kovalevski-like problem, related to an equation for a spinor field k/sub A/ defining the congruence. Initial data are specified on two-dimensional submanifolds. In left-conformally-flat spaces, the solution of that problem exists for arbitrary initial data

In communication between humans, emotion is an important aspect having a powerful influence on the structure as well as content of a conversation. In human-factors research, the interaction between humans is often used as a guide to improve the quality of human-computer interaction. Despite its

Background. Incongruence of standardised patient (SP) portrayals is worsened when SPs are given basic scenarios and too little background information on short notice. Consequently, SPs are confronted with questions they find difficult to answer owing to a lack of insight, internalisation and association with the role.

The major goal was to examine a central tenet of cognitive approaches to gender development, namely, that congruence exists between personal gender stereotypes and behaviors. Item-by-item comparisons of girls' stereotypes about activities and their preferences for activities were conducted, for both girls who claimed to be tomboys and those who did not. Congruence was expected for all girls, but because of their gender non-normative interests, tomboys may exhibit less congruence. A secondary goal was to examine factors that might influence congruence, specifically, whether tomboys develop more inclusive stereotypes and develop greater understanding of stereotype variability. Participants included 112 girls (7-12 years old, M age=9). Girls were interviewed about their activity preferences, beliefs about girls' and boys' activity preferences, understanding variability of stereotypes, and identification as tomboys. Tomboys (30% of the sample) and non-tomboys did not differ in their liking of or in the number of liked feminine activities. However, tomboys showed more interest in masculine activities than non-tomboys. Tomboys and non-tomboys did not differ in stereotype inclusiveness, although tomboys showed a trend toward more inclusive stereotypes. Both groups showed high levels of congruence between stereotypes and preferences. Congruence was stronger for nontomboys (14 times more likely to exhibit responses congruent with stereotypes vs. incongruent ones), as compared to tomboys who were four times more likely to exhibit responses congruent with stereotypes versus incongruent ones. Implications of these findings for cognitive approaches to gender development are discussed.

Full Text Available Although infant speech perception in often studied in isolated modalities, infants' experience with speech is largely multimodal (i.e., speech sounds they hear are accompanied by articulating faces. Across two experiments, we tested infants' sensitivity to the relationship between the auditory and visual components of audiovisual speech in their native (English and non-native (Spanish language. In Experiment 1, infants' looking times were measured during a preferential looking task in which they saw two simultaneous visual speech streams articulating a story, one in English and the other in Spanish, while they heard either the English or the Spanish version of the story. In Experiment 2, looking times from another group of infants were measured as they watched single displays of congruent and incongruent combinations of English and Spanish audio and visual speech streams. Findings demonstrated an age-related increase in looking towards the native relative to non-native visual speech stream when accompanied by the corresponding (native auditory speech. This increase in native language preference did not appear to be driven by a difference in preference for native vs. non-native audiovisual congruence as we observed no difference in looking times at the audiovisual streams in Experiment 2.

Although infant speech perception in often studied in isolated modalities, infants' experience with speech is largely multimodal (i.e., speech sounds they hear are accompanied by articulating faces). Across two experiments, we tested infants' sensitivity to the relationship between the auditory and visual components of audiovisual speech in their native (English) and non-native (Spanish) language. In Experiment 1, infants' looking times were measured during a preferential looking task in which they saw two simultaneous visual speech streams articulating a story, one in English and the other in Spanish, while they heard either the English or the Spanish version of the story. In Experiment 2, looking times from another group of infants were measured as they watched single displays of congruent and incongruent combinations of English and Spanish audio and visual speech streams. Findings demonstrated an age-related increase in looking towards the native relative to non-native visual speech stream when accompanied by the corresponding (native) auditory speech. This increase in native language preference did not appear to be driven by a difference in preference for native vs. non-native audiovisual congruence as we observed no difference in looking times at the audiovisual streams in Experiment 2.

The use of international standards to further trade is one of the objectives of creating a standard. By having form fit and function compatible the free interchange of manufactured goods can be handled without hindrance. Unfortunately by setting up standards that are peculiar to a particular country or district it is possible to exclude competition from a group of manufacturers. A major effort is now underway to develop international laser standards. In the May I 990 issue of Laser Focus World Donald R. Johnson the director of industrial technology services for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST formerly the National Bureau of Standards) is quoted as follows: " The common means of protectionism has been through certification for the market place. " The article goes on to say " Mr. Johnson expects this tradition to continue and that the new European Community (EC) will demand not just safety standards but performance standards as well. . . . the American laser industry must move very quickly on this issue or risk being left behind the European standards bandwagon. " The article continues laser companies must get involved in the actual standards negotiating process if they are to have a say in future policy. A single set of standards would reduce the need to repeatedly recalibrate products for different national markets. " As a member of ISO TC-72 SC9 I am

This word shows the physical - chemical effects of gamma radiation on standard solutions of vitamin C. Samples with concentration of 50 mg/ml were exposed to different doses of gamma radiations: 1,0 2,5 and 5,0 kGy, using a cobalt-60 source, with storing periods of 0,15 and 30 days. The results showed a vitamin C concentration loss, with a minimum of 17% for the dose of 1,0 kGy immediately after irradiation and a maximum of 81% for the dose of 5 kGy and 30 days after irradiation. (author). 3 refs., 2 tabs

Medical students may experience test anxiety associated with 'high stakes' exams, such as Step 1 of the United States Medical Licensing Examination. We collected qualitative responses about test anxiety at three points in time from 93 second-year medical students engaged in studying for and taking Step 1. Causes of test anxiety as reported by students were related to negative self-talk during preparation for the exam. Effects of anxiety had to do with emotional well-being, cognitive functioning, and physical well-being. Strategies included socializing with others and a variety of cognitive and physical approaches. Comparison of individuals' strategies with causes and effects showed some congruence, but substantial incongruence between the types of strategies chosen and the reported causes and effects of test anxiety. Students' adoption of a 'menu' of strategies rather than one or two carefully selected strategies suggest inefficiencies that might be addressed by interventions, such as advisor-directed conversations with students and incorporating student self-assessment and strategies for managing anxiety within courses on test-taking. Such interventions are in need of further study. An annotated list of evidence-based strategies would be helpful to students and educators. Most important, test anxiety should be viewed by medical educators as a 'real' experience, and students would benefit from educator support.

Full Text Available Introduction: Medical students may experience test anxiety associated with ‘high stakes’ exams, such as Step 1 of the United States Medical Licensing Examination. Methods: We collected qualitative responses about test anxiety at three points in time from 93 second-year medical students engaged in studying for and taking Step 1. Results: Causes of test anxiety as reported by students were related to negative self-talk during preparation for the exam. Effects of anxiety had to do with emotional well-being, cognitive functioning, and physical well-being. Strategies included socializing with others and a variety of cognitive and physical approaches. Comparison of individuals’ strategies with causes and effects showed some congruence, but substantial incongruence between the types of strategies chosen and the reported causes and effects of test anxiety. Discussion: Students’ adoption of a ‘menu’ of strategies rather than one or two carefully selected strategies suggest inefficiencies that might be addressed by interventions, such as advisor-directed conversations with students and incorporating student self-assessment and strategies for managing anxiety within courses on test-taking. Such interventions are in need of further study. An annotated list of evidence-based strategies would be helpful to students and educators. Most important, test anxiety should be viewed by medical educators as a ‘real’ experience, and students would benefit from educator support.

The purpose of the current study was to examine the effects of adapting the instructional congruence model on the English Language Learners' (ELL) attitudes and achievement in science. Changes in teacher's views and practices were documented. The mixed-method approach was adapted. Data sources were the "Attitude Towards Science" survey, VNOS-C questionnaire, Luykx and Lee (2007) observational instrument, Gee (1997) discussion categories, video recordings, and pre- and post-tests. A science teacher and a class of 24 ELL female students in a charter school participated in this research. The results of this study indicated that student achievement increased significantly and students' attitudes improved in all contexts. At the conclusion of the study, all teacher's views on NOS were reported to be informed, teacher's practices were rated higher, and different classroom interactions increased significantly. The instructional congruence model in science education has been successful in reaching different learners, improving students' attitudes and achievement in science and enhancing teacher's views and practices. This model has significant potential for meeting the challenging goals of reformed science education.

Full Text Available Prior research provides robust support for the existence of a number of associations between colors and flavors. In the present study, we examined whether congruent (vs. incongruent combinations of product packaging colors and flavor labels would facilitate visual search for products labelled with specific flavors in a Stroop-like manner. Across two experiments, a Stroop-like effect between flavor words and packaging colors is documented and we demonstrate that people are able to search for packaging flavor labels more rapidly when the color of the packaging is congruent with the flavor label (e.g., red/tomato than when it is incongruent (e.g., yellow/tomato. In addition, when the packaging color was incongruent, those flavor labels that were more strongly associated with a specific color yielded slower reaction times and more errors (Stroop interference than those that were less strongly tied to a specific color. Importantly, search efficiency was affected both by color/flavor congruence and association strength. Taken together, these results therefore highlight the role of color congruence and color-word association strength when it comes to searching for specific flavor labels.

Australia's National Health Policy on Alcohol has recommended that beverage containers be labelled so that alcohol content is 'readily understandable by the public'. Health promotion to increase the responsible use of alcohol now relies extensively on the concept of a standard drink--usually defined as 10 g of ethyl alcohol. Numerous difficulties confront a drinker who wishes to apply the standard drink system to monitor alcohol intake. This report describes a series of experimental tests of the proposal that these difficulties are minimised if alcohol containers have their alcohol content indicated in terms of standard drinks in addition to the usual percentage alcohol by volume method. Subjects were drinkers recruited from a Perth shopping mall and were tested only on beverage types they had consumed within the previous week. They were required to pour what they judged to be a single standard drink from a 750 ml bottle of either wine or beer. Beer drinkers achieved greater accuracy in this task when the bottles had standard drink labels, even when the glass size and beverage strength were varied. Wine drinkers had equal difficulty with this task whether standard drink or percentage labels were used. The addition of a 'ladder' up the side of a wine bottle with graduations in standard drinks would be necessary for wine drinkers to achieve a high level of accuracy. We conclude that labelling drink containers with their alcohol content in terms of standard drinks would better equip all drinkers to follow the advice of health educators.

We develop the global constraint picture in the (linear) effective field theory generalisation of the Standard Model, incorporating data from detectors that operated at PEP, PETRA, TRISTAN, SpS, Tevatron, SLAC, LEPI and LEP II, as well as low energy precision data. We fit one hundred and three observables. We develop a theory error metric for this effective field theory, which is required when constraints on parameters at leading order in the power counting are to be pushed to the percent level, or beyond, unless the cut off scale is assumed to be large, Λ≳ 3 TeV. We more consistently incorporate theoretical errors in this work, avoiding this assumption, and as a direct consequence bounds on some leading parameters are relaxed. We show how an S,T analysis is modified by the theory errors we include as an illustrative example.

We present DsixTools, a Mathematica package for the handling of the dimension-six standard model effective field theory. Among other features, DsixTools allows the user to perform the full one-loop renormalization group evolution of the Wilson coefficients in the Warsaw basis. This is achieved thanks to the SMEFTrunner module, which implements the full one-loop anomalous dimension matrix previously derived in the literature. In addition, DsixTools also contains modules devoted to the matching to the ΔB = ΔS = 1, 2 and ΔB = ΔC = 1 operators of the Weak Effective Theory at the electroweak scale, and their QCD and QED Renormalization group evolution below the electroweak scale. (orig.)

We examined the effects of the thematic congruence between ads and the programme in which they are embedded. We also studied the typicality of the to-be-remembered information (high- and low-typicality elements), and the effect of divided attention in the memory for radio ad contents. Participants listened to four radio programmes with thematically congruent and incongruent ads embedded, and completed a true/false recognition test indicating the level of confidence in their answer. Half of the sample performed an additional task (divided attention group) while listening to the radio excerpts. In general, recognition memory was better for incongruent ads and low-typicality statements. Confidence in hits was higher in the undivided attention group, although there were no differences in performance. Our results suggest that the widespread idea of embedding ads into thematic-congruent programmes negatively affects memory for ads. In addition, low-typicality features that are usually highlighted by advertisers were better remembered than typical contents. Finally, metamemory evaluations were influenced by the inference that memory should be worse if we do several things at the same time.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) completed this project for the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Building Energy Codes Program (BECP). DOE’s BECP supports upgrading building energy codes and standards, and the states’ adoption, implementation, and enforcement of upgraded codes and standards. Building energy codes and standards set minimum requirements for energy-efficient design and construction for new and renovated buildings, and impact energy use and greenhouse gas emissions for the life of buildings. Continuous improvement of building energy efficiency is achieved by periodically upgrading energy codes and standards. Ensuring that changes in the code that may alter costs (for building components, initial purchase and installation, replacement, maintenance and energy) are cost-effective encourages their acceptance and implementation. ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1 is the energy standard for commercial and multi-family residential buildings over three floors.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) completed this project for the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Building Energy Codes Program (BECP). DOE’s BECP supports upgrading building energy codes and standards, and the states’ adoption, implementation, and enforcement of upgraded codes and standards. Building energy codes and standards set minimum requirements for energy-efficient design and construction for new and renovated buildings, and impact energy use and greenhouse gas emissions for the life of buildings. Continuous improvement of building energy efficiency is achieved by periodically upgrading energy codes and standards. Ensuring that changes in the code that may alter costs (for building components, initial purchase and installation, replacement, maintenance and energy) are cost-effective encourages their acceptance and implementation. ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1 is the energy standard for commercial and multi-family residential buildings over three floors.

The UK's Accounting Standards Board and the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group have published a discussion paper entitled 'Considering the Effects of Accounting Standards'. While the effort to think through potential consequences of proposed regulatory acts in advance is welcome, we argue

in its price as seen at the wellhead (Wiser 2007). The magnitude of the effect on price relative to the demand reduction, and the mechanism through which it occurs, is less well established. This report attempts to quantify the potential effects of reduced demand for natural gas in the residential sector, in response to the implementation of an energy efficiency standard for water heaters.

Full Text Available A robust interest point detection algorithm based on illumination space and phase congruency is proposed in this paper. Firstly, image illumination space is constructed by using a parameters adaptive method. Secondly, a phase congruency based interest point detection algorithm is adopted to compute candidate points in illumination space. Then, all interest point candidates are mapped back to the original image and a non-maximum suppression step is added to find final interest points. Finally, the feature scale values of all interest points are calculated based on the Laplacian function. The proposed algorithm combines the advantages of illumination space and phase congruency, which makes the proposed method robust to the radiation variation of multispectral images. The experimental results show that the proposed method performs better than other traditional methods in feature repeatability rate and repeated features number.

We present a practical three-step procedure of using the Standard Model effective field theory (SM EFT) to connect ultraviolet (UV) models of new physics with weak scale precision observables. With this procedure, one can interpret precision measurements as constraints on a given UV model. We give a detailed explanation for calculating the effective action up to one-loop order in a manifestly gauge covariant fashion. This covariant derivative expansion method dramatically simplifies the process of matching a UV model with the SM EFT, and also makes available a universal formalism that is easy to use for a variety of UV models. A few general aspects of RG running effects and choosing operator bases are discussed. Finally, we provide mapping results between the bosonic sector of the SM EFT and a complete set of precision electroweak and Higgs observables to which present and near future experiments are sensitive. Many results and tools which should prove useful to those wishing to use the SM EFT are detailed in several appendices.

We present a practical three-step procedure of using the Standard Model effective field theory (SM EFT) to connect ultraviolet (UV) models of new physics with weak scale precision observables. With this procedure, one can interpret precision measurements as constraints on a given UV model. We give a detailed explanation for calculating the effective action up to one-loop order in a manifestly gauge covariant fashion. This covariant derivative expansion method dramatically simplifies the process of matching a UV model with the SM EFT, and also makes available a universal formalism that is easy to use for a variety of UV models. A few general aspects of RG running effects and choosing operator bases are discussed. Finally, we provide mapping results between the bosonic sector of the SM EFT and a complete set of precision electroweak and Higgs observables to which present and near future experiments are sensitive. Many results and tools which should prove useful to those wishing to use the SM EFT are detailed in several appendices.

Cultural congruence is the idea that to the extent a belief or experience is culturally shared it is not to feature in a diagnostic judgement, irrespective of its resemblance to psychiatric pathology. This rests on the argument that since deviation from norms is central to diagnosis, and since what counts as deviation is relative to context, assessing the degree of fit between mental states and cultural norms is crucial. Various problems beset the cultural congruence construct including impoverished definitions of culture as religious, national or ethnic group and of congruence as validation by that group. This article attempts to address these shortcomings to arrive at a cogent construct. The article distinguishes symbolic from phenomenological conceptions of culture, the latter expanded upon through two sources: Husserl's phenomenological analysis of background intentionality and neuropsychological literature on salience. It is argued that culture is not limited to symbolic presuppositions and shapes subjects' experiential dispositions. This conception is deployed to re-examine the meaning of (in)congruence. The main argument is that a significant, since foundational, deviation from culture is not from a value or belief but from culturally-instilled experiential dispositions, in what is salient to an individual in a particular context. Applying the concept of cultural congruence must not be limited to assessing violations of the symbolic order and must consider alignment with or deviations from culturally-instilled experiential dispositions. By virtue of being foundational to a shared experience of the world, such dispositions are more accurate indicators of potential vulnerability. Notwithstanding problems of access and expertise, clinical practice should aim to accommodate this richer meaning of cultural congruence.

A variable-weight code family referred to as variable-weight quadratic congruence code (VWQCC) is constructed by algebraic transformation for incoherent synchronous optical code division multiple access (OCDMA) systems. Compared with quadratic congruence code (QCC), VWQCC doubles the code cardinality and provides the multiple code-sets with variable code-weight. Moreover, the bit-error rate (BER) performance of VWQCC is superior to those of conventional variable-weight codes by removing or padding pulses under the same chip power assumption. The experiment results show that VWQCC can be well applied to the OCDMA with quality of service (QoS) requirements.

Our study used the construct of congruence to conceptualize the degree to which transgender individuals feel genuine, authentic, and comfortable with their gender identity and external appearance. In Study 1, the Transgender Congruence scale (TCS) was developed, and data from 162 transgender individuals were used to estimate the reliability and…

The purpose of this study was to provide a best-synthesis summary of the literature for effective workplace health promotion interventions (WHPI) for work-related mechanical neck pain (MNP) and to determine the congruence between knowledge of WHPI for work-related MNP and coverage of MNP in the chiropractic postgraduate program at Macquarie University. A literature review was undertaken to determine effective WHPI for work-related MNP. We searched Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, and PEDro (from 1991 to 2016) for systematic reviews and meta-analyses. The PRISMA (2009) 27-item checklist was used to critically appraise included articles. Lectures, tutorials, and assessment tasks within the chiropractic postgraduate program were mapped to the literature review findings and analyzed. There was moderate-quality evidence for multidimensional WHPI, including aspects of mental and physical functioning, activity performance and modifications, and environmental modifications, to reduce MNP and disability in workers, particularly in the long term. Education on coverage of MNP and effective WHPI for MNP was inadequately covered although congruent with synthesis of current literature. Education on body functions and structures and personal factors were the most commonly covered components. Multidimensional WHPI, focusing on physical, mental, and environmental modifications, appear to reduce self-reported MNP primarily in office workers. There is adequate congruence between the chiropractic postgraduate program at Macquarie University and the published literature on some WHPI. However, there is inadequate coverage on aspects of MNP and effective WHPI for MNP, particularly those focusing on activity and participation and environmental factors.

The role of international regulatory standards within the current global environment has become of the most importance. The age of the global system and free market capitalism carried us into the unprecedented age of regulations, and standard setting. Regulations are now becoming the emerging mode of global governance. This study focuses on…

Many standards have been published to describe devices, methods, and other topics. How they are developed and by whom are briefly described, and an attempt is made to extract most of those relating to temperature measurements. A directory of temperature standards and their sources is provided

Embodied cognitive theories predict that linguistic conceptual representations are grounded and continually represented in real world, sensorimotor experiences. However, there is an on-going debate on whether this also holds for abstract concepts. Grammar is the archetype of abstract knowledge, and therefore constitutes a test case against embodied theories of language representation. Former studies have largely focussed on lexical-level embodied representations. In the present study we take the grounding-by-modality idea a step further by using reaction time (RT) data from the linguistic processing of nominal classifiers in Chinese. We take advantage of an independent body of research, which shows that attention in hand space is biased. Specifically, objects near the hand consistently yield shorter RTs as a function of readiness for action on graspable objects within reaching space, and the same biased attention inhibits attentional disengagement. We predicted that this attention bias would equally apply to the graspable object classifier but not to the big object classifier. Chinese speakers (N = 22) judged grammatical congruency of classifier-noun combinations in two conditions: graspable object classifier and big object classifier. We found that RTs for the graspable object classifier were significantly faster in congruent combinations, and significantly slower in incongruent combinations, than the big object classifier. There was no main effect on grammatical violations, but rather an interaction effect of classifier type. Thus, we demonstrate here grammatical category-specific effects pertaining to the semantic content and by extension the visual and tactile modality of acquisition underlying the acquisition of these categories. We conclude that abstract grammatical categories are subjected to the same mechanisms as general cognitive and neurophysiological processes and may therefore be grounded.

In this article, we analyse the Lesotho junior secondary geography curriculum document with the purpose of exploring the congruence between geography and environmental education. The study is based on a curriculum reform process introduced by the Lesotho Environmental Education Support Project (LEESP) in 2001. we draw theoretical insights from…

The study examined perceived similarity and understanding in dyadic coping among 197 young and 192 mature couples. Perceived similarity and understanding were computed through a dyad-centered approach. To separate 2 equally important components of dyadic congruence (i.e., unique and stereotypical

Full Text Available This study builds on the theory that transformational leadership impacts perceptions of leader-follower value congruence. The study examines intrinsic, altruistic, and social work values in a sample of 150 workers in the United States. The hypotheses tested that different levels of transformational leadership, as perceived by followers, are positively related to follower perceptions of leader-follower intrinsic, altruistic, and social work value congruence. Utilizing hierarchical multiple regression, the findings indicate that levels of perceived transformational leadership are positively related to higher levels of perceived leader-follower intrinsic, altruistic, and social work value congruency. This study used four different measurement tools to test these hypotheses and controlled for task-oriented behaviors, tenure with supervisor as well as race, gender, and age similarity with supervisor. The findings suggest that organizations involved in a restructuring or reorganization due to either internal or external circumstances should emphasize developing leaders’ transformational leadership behaviors in order to capture benefits related to value congruency.

Examined mother-adolescent congruence in reports of adolescent sexual behavior and communication about sex in 745 African American adolescents (ages 14-17). Found that adolescent perceptions and reports were more predictive of adolescent sexual behavior than maternal reports. Mothers underestimated their teens' sexual activity, and teens…

Purpose: This study examined the congruence of self-reported medications with computerized pharmacy records. Design and Methods: Pharmacy records and self-reported medications were obtained for 294 members of a state pharmaceutical assistance program who also participated in ACTIVE, a clinical trial on cognitive training in nondemented elderly…

Although studies have examined numerous factors that predict junior faculty success, previous research has paid little attention to the role played by department chairs. Drawing on theory from person-environment fit theory and value congruence, we sought to examine the implication of a match versus mismatch between faculty members and their chairs…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to highlight the congruence and roles of the balanced scorecard in the quality assurance practices in higher education institutions, and second, to propose a balanced scorecard model for higher education institutions. Design/methodology/approach: A descriptive literature review was used to…

Intergenerational congruence of mothers' and preschoolers' narratives about the mother-child relationship was examined in a sample of 198 Hispanic (59.1%), Black (19.2%), and White (21.7%) mothers and their preschool child. Mothers' narratives were obtained with the Five Minute Speech Sample and were coded for negative and positive affective…

Self-reported or explicit self-esteem frequently conflicts with indirectly assessed, implicit self-esteem. The present research investigated whether meditation may reduce such inner conflicts by promoting congruence between implicit and explicit self-esteem. Relative to control conditions,

This is a self-contained exposition by one of the leading experts in lattice theory, George Grätzer, presenting the major results of the last 70 years on congruence lattices of finite lattices, featuring the author's signature Proof-by-Picture method. Key features: * Insightful discussion of techniques to construct "nice" finite lattices with given congruence lattices and "nice" congruence-preserving extensions * Contains complete proofs, an extensive bibliography and index, and over 140 illustrations * This new edition includes two new parts on Planar Semimodular Lattices and The Order of Principle Congruences, covering the research of the last 10 years The book is appropriate for a one-semester graduate course in lattice theory, and it is a practical reference for researchers studying lattices. Reviews of the first edition: "There exist a lot of interesting results in this area of lattice theory, and some of them are presented in this book. [This] monograph…is an exceptional work in lattice theory, like ...

We investigated how intergenerational congruence in family-related attitudes depends on life course stage in young adulthood. Recent data from the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study were used; the present sample included 2,041 dyads of young adults and their parents. Findings are discussed in terms of the elasticity in intergenerational attitude…

OBJECTIVE: To establish the normal limit of the congruence 9Q) Angle of the patella in Nigeria and therefore establish a reference value for orthopaedic surgeons. DESIGN: Measurement of Q angle in 104 freshly obtained cadavers from three centers in Port Harcourt and one center in Nnewi all in eastern part of Nigeria.

Full Text Available Two value concepts are dominant in the social sciences: (1 Schwartz's theory of basic human values, measured through the Portrait Values Questionnaire (ESS and (2 Inglehart's postmaterialism and Welzel's extension to the self-expression values scale (WVS/EVS. To advance research in values, two questions need to be addressed: (1 Are the concepts and measurements of values in the different approaches interchangeable? (2 Which of the concepts performs better for explaining moral and social attitudes? This study contributes to the discussion on value concepts by comparing these value instruments using individual level data from an online access panel (n = 762 and assessing the performance of values instruments for microexplanations of moral (end-of-life attitudes and sexual morality and social attitudes (xenophobia. Overall, the measurement model of basic human values with the PVQ provides a sound basis for comparing the Schwartz values to postmaterialism and self-expression values. In both cases, there are positive correlations with universalism and self-direction and negative correlations with tradition/conformity and security, which do not exceed 0.4. Regarding the performance, it turns out that the Schwartz values are in toto a more powerful tool than both Inglehart's postmaterialism and Welzel's self-expression values, in terms of explained variance as well as in terms of standardizedeffects.

Full Text Available The effects of real-world tool use on body or space representations are relatively well established in cognitive neuroscience. Several studies have shown, for example, that active tool use results in a facilitated integration of multisensory information in peripersonal space, i.e. the space directly surrounding the body. However, it remains unknown to what extent similar mechanisms apply to the use of virtual-robotic tools, such as those used in the field of surgical robotics, in which a surgeon may use bimanual haptic interfaces to control a surgery robot at a remote location. This paper presents two experiments in which participants used a haptic handle, originally designed for a commercial surgery robot, to control a virtual tool. The integration of multisensory information related to the virtual-robotic tool was assessed by means of the crossmodal congruency task, in which subjects responded to tactile vibrations applied to their fingers while ignoring visual distractors superimposed on the tip of the virtual-robotic tool. Our results show that active virtual-robotic tool use changes the spatial modulation of the crossmodal congruencyeffects, comparable to changes in the representation of peripersonal space observed during real-world tool use. Moreover, when the virtual-robotic tools were held in a crossed position, the visual distractors interfered strongly with tactile stimuli that was connected with the hand via the tool, reflecting a remapping of peripersonal space. Such remapping was not only observed when the virtual-robotic tools were actively used (Experiment 1, but also when passively held the tools (Experiment 2. The present study extends earlier findings on the extension of peripersonal space from physical and pointing tools to virtual-robotic tools using techniques from haptics and virtual reality. We discuss our data with respect to learning and human factors in the field of surgical robotics and discuss the use of new

The effects of real-world tool use on body or space representations are relatively well established in cognitive neuroscience. Several studies have shown, for example, that active tool use results in a facilitated integration of multisensory information in peripersonal space, i.e. the space directly surrounding the body. However, it remains unknown to what extent similar mechanisms apply to the use of virtual-robotic tools, such as those used in the field of surgical robotics, in which a surgeon may use bimanual haptic interfaces to control a surgery robot at a remote location. This paper presents two experiments in which participants used a haptic handle, originally designed for a commercial surgery robot, to control a virtual tool. The integration of multisensory information related to the virtual-robotic tool was assessed by means of the crossmodal congruency task, in which subjects responded to tactile vibrations applied to their fingers while ignoring visual distractors superimposed on the tip of the virtual-robotic tool. Our results show that active virtual-robotic tool use changes the spatial modulation of the crossmodal congruencyeffects, comparable to changes in the representation of peripersonal space observed during real-world tool use. Moreover, when the virtual-robotic tools were held in a crossed position, the visual distractors interfered strongly with tactile stimuli that was connected with the hand via the tool, reflecting a remapping of peripersonal space. Such remapping was not only observed when the virtual-robotic tools were actively used (Experiment 1), but also when passively held the tools (Experiment 2). The present study extends earlier findings on the extension of peripersonal space from physical and pointing tools to virtual-robotic tools using techniques from haptics and virtual reality. We discuss our data with respect to learning and human factors in the field of surgical robotics and discuss the use of new technologies in the field

This study explored the effects of congruency between preferred and actual learning environment (PLE & ALE) perceptions on students' science literacy in terms of science concepts, attitudes toward science, and the understanding of the nature of science in an innovative curriculum of High Scope Project, namely Sci-Tech Mind and Humane Heart (STMHH). A pre-/post-treatment experiment was conducted with 34 Taiwanese tenth graders involved in this study. Participating students' preferred learning environment perception and pre-instruction scientific literacy were evaluated before the STMHH curriculum. Their perceptions toward the actual STMHH learning environment and post-instruction scientific literacy were also examined after the STMHH. Students were categorized into two groups; "preferred alignment with actual learning environment" (PAA) and "preferred discordant with actual learning environment" (PDA), according to their PLEI and ALEI scores. The results of this study revealed that most of the students in this study preferred learning in a classroom environment where student-centered and teacher-centered learning environments coexisted. Furthermore, the ANCOVA analysis showed marginally statistically significant difference between groups in terms of students' post-test scores on scientific literacy with the students' pre-test scores as the covariate. As a pilot study with a small sample size aiming to probe the research direction of this problem, the result of marginally statistically significant and approaching large sized effect magnitude is likely to implicate that the congruency between preferred and actual learning environments on students' scientific literacy is noteworthy. Future study of this nature appears to merit further replications and investigations.

A multi-site pilot randomized controlled trial of Congruence Couple Therapy (CCT) for problem gambling was conducted in Ontario and Alberta, Canada from 2009 to 2011. The purpose was to assess the feasibility of a full trial and to identify methodological modifications to enhance future trials. The sample (N = 30; 15 couples) consisted of 66% male gamblers and 34% female. Mean age of sample was 49.1 years. Baseline mean DSM-IV gambling score was 8.7/10. Retention of the treatment couples was 89% at 2-month follow-up. Retention of control couples was 78%. A randomized controlled design compared the status of couples in treatment condition to control condition. Treatment couples received 12-week CCT while control couples received three brief check-ins over 12 weeks. No significant difference was found between treatment and control group at baseline on all measures. At (1) week 12 post-treatment, and (2) week 20 follow-up, significant treatment effects were found for gambling symptoms (p = 0.008; p = 0.041), mental distress (p = 0.001; p = 0.035), and family systems function (p = 0.023; p = 0.054) between treatment and control group. Within group changes for treatment couples over time were significant for mental distress (p = 0.000), dyadic adjustment (p = 0.002), and family systems function (p = 0.000). On similar measures, control group showed non-significant improvement. Future methodological changes, advantages and disadvantages of multi-site partnerships with community treatment agencies are discussed. Of interest is that control participants showed unintended improvement. CCT as a treatment was favourably accepted by counselors, problem gamblers and their spouses. Positive outcome trends ranging from small to large effect size on key measures indicate that a full-scaled trial will require approximately 140 couples and is an investment worth pursuing.

Malawi Medical Journal; 23(4): 116-118 December 2011. Side effects of standard first line in ART 116. Underreporting of side effects of standard first-line. ART in the routine setting in Blantyre, Malawi. Abstract. Introduction. In the Malawi ART programme, 92% of 250,000 patients are using the standard first-line regime of ...

Utilizing proxy report is a common solution to gathering quality-of-life information from people who are not capable of reliably answering questionnaires, such as people with dementia. Proxy report could, however, also provide information about patients' implicit processes of understanding, which we define as automatic, schema-driven cognitive processes that allow one to have a better understanding of oneself and of one's body, make oneself known and knowable to members of the social network, and allow one to react proactively in response to cues. We investigated whether implicit processes of understanding explain some of the association between reserve and healthy lifestyle behaviors. We operationalized three implicit processes of understanding: (a) psychosocial understanding; (b) insight into physical disability; and (c) somatic awareness. This secondary analysis involved a cohort of multiple sclerosis patients and their caregiver informants (n = 118 pairs). Measures included a neurologist-administered Expanded Disability Status Scale, patient- and informant-completed survey measures, and a heartbeat perception test (interoception). Patient-other congruence assessed implicit processes of understanding: psychosocial understanding (neurocognitive and personality); physical-disability insight; and somatic awareness (interoception). Effect sizes (ES) for the inter-correlations between the three implicit processes were small. Psychosocial understanding was associated with higher past reserve-building activities (small ES). Psychosocial understanding explained variance in healthy lifestyle behaviors over and above the variance explained by current reserve-building activities (∆R (2) = 0.04; model R Adjusted (2) = 0.18). Proxy versus patient report can provide information about underlying interpretational processes related to insight. These processes are distinct from reserve, predict health outcomes, and can inform lifestyle-changing interventions.

Growing evidence suggests that theta oscillations play a crucial role in episodic encoding. The present study evaluates whether changes in electroencephalographic theta source dynamics mediate the positive influence of semantic congruence on incidental associative learning. Here we show that memory for episodic associations (face-location) is more accurate when studied under semantically congruent contexts. However, only participants showing RT priming effect in a conceptual priming test (priming group) also gave faster responses when recollecting source information of semantically congruent faces as compared with semantically incongruent faces. This improved episodic retrieval was positively correlated with increases in theta power during the study phase mainly in the bilateral parahippocampal gyrus, left superior temporal gyrus, and left lateral posterior parietal lobe. Reconstructed signals from the estimated sources showed higher theta power for congruent than incongruent faces and also for the priming than the nonpriming group. These results are in agreement with the attention to memory model. Besides directing top-down attention to goal-relevant semantic information during encoding, the dorsal parietal lobe may also be involved in redirecting attention to bottom-up-driven memories thanks to connections between the medial-temporal and the left ventral parietal lobe. The latter function can either facilitate or interfere with encoding of face-location associations depending on whether they are preceded by semantically congruent or incongruent contexts, respectively, because only in the former condition retrieved representations related to the cue and the face are both coherent with the person identity and are both associated with the same location.

Organ donation is the most important stage for organ transplant. Studies reveal that attitudes of families of brain-dead patients toward donation play a significant role in their decision. We hypothesized that supporting family awareness about the meaning of organ donation, including saving lives while losing a loved one, combined with being informed about brain death and the donation process must be maintained by intensive care unit physicians through standardized interviews and questionnaires to increase the donation rate. We retrospectively evaluated the final decisions of families of 52 brain-dead donors treated at our institution between 2014 and 2017. Data underwent descriptive analyses. The standard interview content was generated after literature search results were reviewed by the authors. Previously, we examined the impact of standardized interviews done by intensive care unit physicians with relatives of potential brain-dead donors regarding decisions to donate or reasons for refusing organ donation. After termination of that study, interviews were done according to the intensivist's orientation, resulting in significantly decreased donation rates. Standardized interviews were then started again, resulting in increased donation rates. Of 17 families who participated in standardized interviews, 5 families (29.4%) agreed to donate organs of their brain-dead relatives. In the other group of families, intensivists governed informing the families of donation without standardized interviews. In this group of 35 families, 5 families (14.3%) approved organ donation. The decision regarding whether to agree to organ donation was statistically different between the 2 family groups (P donation process resulted in an increased rate of organ donation compared with routine protocols.

This review paper examines how standardized language assessment affects Chinese young learners' motivation for second-language learning. By presenting the historical and contemporary contexts of the testing system in China, this paper seeks to demonstrate the interrelationship among cultural, social, familial, and individual factors, which…

out using TLC densitometry and quantitated using the calibration curve of melatonin (0-2.0 mg/ml). Treatment of animals. Male albino Wistar rats aged 7 - 8 weeks were used in this study. The animals were housed in air conditioned room and were kept in standard laboratory condition, which included a 12-h light- dark cycle ...

Standard candles can probe the evolution of dark energy over a large redshift range. But the cosmic opacity can degrade the quality of standard candles. In this paper, we use the latest observations, including Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) from the “joint light-curve analysis” sample and Hubble parameters, to probe the opacity of the universe. A joint fitting of the SNe Ia light-curve parameters, cosmological parameters, and opacity is used in order to avoid the cosmological dependence of SNe Ia luminosity distances. The latest gamma-ray bursts are used in order to explore the cosmic opacity at high redshifts. The cosmic reionization process is considered at high redshifts. We find that the sample supports an almost transparent universe for flat ΛCDM and XCDM models. Meanwhile, free electrons deplete photons from standard candles through (inverse) Compton scattering, which is known as an important component of opacity. This Compton dimming may play an important role in future supernova surveys. From analysis, we find that about a few per cent of the cosmic opacity is caused by Compton dimming in the two models, which can be corrected.

Preoperative anxiety is commonly reported by people undergoing surgery. A significant number of studies have found a correlation between preoperative anxiety and post-operative morbidity. Various methods of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) were found to be effective in alleviating preoperative anxiety. This study examined the relative effectiveness of various individual and generic CAM methods combined with standard treatment (ST) in relieving preoperative anxiety, in comparison with ST alone. Randomized controlled trial. Holding room area Three hundred sixty patients. Patients were randomly divided into 6 equal-sized groups. Group 1 received the standard treatment (ST) for anxiety alleviation with anxiolytics. The five other groups received the following, together with ST (anxiolytics): Compact Disk Recording of Guided Imagery (CDRGI); acupuncture; individual guided imagery; reflexology; and individual guided imagery combined with reflexology, based on medical staff availability. Assessment of anxiety was taken upon entering the holding room area (surgery preparation room) ('pre-treatment assessment'), and following the treatment, shortly before transfer to the operating room ('post-treatment assessment'), based on the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) questionnaire. Data processing included comparison of VAS averages in the 'pre' and 'post' stages among the various groups. Preoperatively, CAM treatments were associated with significant reduction of anxiety level (5.54-2.32, p<0.0001). In contrast, no significant change was noted in the standard treatment group (4.92-5.44, p=0.15). Individualized CAM treatments did not differ significantly in outcomes. However, CDRGI was less effective than individualized CAM (P<0.001), but better than ST (p=0.005). Individual CAM treatments integrated within ST reduce preoperative anxiety significantly, compared to standard treatment alone, and are more effective than generic CDRGI. In light of the scope of preoperative

Full Text Available Possessive resultative constructions containing a HAVE-verb and a past passive participle have been used in West Slavic languages for centuries without showing a rapid grammaticalisation into a perfect (cf. evidence from Polish and Czech. The same holds for Slovak, where examples can be found at least from the 17th century on without rapidly changing on the grammaticalisation chain. At the same time, Krupa demonstrated in 1960 a loss of congruence between object and past passive participle in possessive resultatives in colloquial Slovak distinguishing different types. Loss of congruence is often considered to be an important grammaticalisation step for emerging participial perfects. A sought in the Slovak National Corpus brought some evidence for such constructions in journalistic texts and from the Internet (the same types as used by Krupa, but their frequency is very low so far.

Full Text Available Many Chinese traditional retailers have turned to the multichannel forms by establishing their own online stores. When doing so, retail managers face a difficult choice between two online marketing orientations: “pursuit of ideal” (i.e. online-prototypical congruence orientation and “retention of tradition” (i.e. online-offline congruence orientation. To help managers make this choice, this study proposes a conceptual framework to illustrate how these two orientations affect retail store attitude when retail brand familiarity differs. The results indicate that both orientations can improve consumers’ retail store attitudes. When retail brand familiarity is low, the online stores of traditional retailers should balance both orientations in product selections and adopt “pursuit of ideal” in prices. When retail brand familiarity is high, “retention of tradition” should be applied in product selections and both orientations should be integrated in prices for gaining more positive change in retail store attitude.

Most studies on parent-adolescent sexual health communication come from developed countries and are based on either parents' or children's reports. In developing countries, there is little evidence about the agreement among reports of all parties involved in parent-adolescent sexual health communication. The objective of this study is to explore the congruence (agreement) between adolescents and their parents about how frequently they discuss on selected sexual health topics. A total of 1606 parent-adolescent dyads of adolescents attending the first year in public high schools and their parents, in Morelos, Mexico were sampled in this study. The participants completed a self-administered questionnaire that included the frequency of parent-adolescent communication about eight sexual health topics. An ordinal logistic threshold model was used to estimate intra-class correlation coefficients within parent-adolescent dyads (as a measure of congruence) and to test if thresholds were equal between parents and adolescents. Congruence in reported frequency of parent-adolescent sexual health communication ranged from 0.205 (menstruation) to 0.307 (condoms) for mother-adolescent dyads, and from 0.103 (ejaculation) to 0.380 (condoms) for father-adolescent dyads. The thresholds (i.e., the cutoff points that define the categories in the observed ordinal variable) differed between parents and adolescents for each of the sexual health topics explored (phealth communication. This might be due to interpretation of frequency and intensity of sexual health communication which differs between parents and adolescents.

We investigated in two experiments whether selective attention processes modulate evaluative conditioning (EC). Based on the fact that the typical stimuli in an EC paradigm involve an affect-laden unconditioned stimulus (US) and a neutral conditioned stimulus (CS), we started from the assumption that learning might depend in part upon selective attention to the US. Attention to the US was manipulated by including a variant of the Eriksen flanker task in the EC paradigm. Similarly to the original Flanker paradigm, we implemented a target-distracter logic by introducing the CS as the task-relevant stimulus (i.e. the target) to which the participants had to respond and the US as a task-irrelevant distracter. Experiment 1 showed that CS-US congruence modulated EC if the CS had to be selected against the US. Specifically, EC was more pronounced for congruent CS-US pairs as compared to incongruent CS-US pairs. Experiment 2 disentangled CS-US congruence and CS-US compatibility and suggested that it is indeed CS-US stimulus congruence rather than CS-US response compatibility that modulates EC.

Full Text Available Spatially and temporally congruent visuotactile stimulation of a fake hand together with one’s real hand may result in an illusory self-attribution of the fake hand. Although this illusion relies on a representation of the two touched body parts in external space, there is tentative evidence that, for the illusion to occur, the seen and felt touches also need to be congruent in an anatomical reference frame. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging and a somatotopical, virtual reality-based setup to isolate the neuronal basis of such a comparison. Participants’ index or little finger was synchronously touched with the index or little finger of a virtual hand, under congruent or incongruent orientations of the real and virtual hands. The left ventral premotor cortex responded significantly more strongly to visuotactile co-stimulation of the same versus different fingers of the virtual and real hand. Conversely, the left anterior intraparietal sulcus responded significantly more strongly to co-stimulation of different versus same fingers. Both responses were independent of hand orientation congruence and of spatial congruence of the visuotactile stimuli. Our results suggest that fronto-parietal areas previously associated with multisensory processing within peripersonal space and with tactile remapping evaluate the congruence of visuotactile stimulation on the body according to an anatomical reference frame.

This dissertation is a study of the instructional congruence framework as it was used to develop and pilot a supplemental science unit on energy and the environment for sixth grade students in Arizona. With the growing linguistic and cultural diversity of children in American schools, congruent materials are more important now than ever before. The supplemental materials were designed by the researcher and underwent a six person, three educator and three engineer, panel review. The revised materials were then piloted in two sixth grade classrooms in the Southwest with high numbers of English language learners. Classroom observation, teacher interviews, and the classroom observation protocol were utilized to understand the fidelity to the instructional congruence framework. The fidelity of implementation of materials was subject to the realities of varied educational contexts. Piloting materials in urban contexts with diverse students involved additional challenges. The results of the study explore the challenges in creating instructionally congruent materials for diverse students in urban contexts. Recommendations are provided for curriculum developers that undertake the task of creating instructionally congruent materials and emphasize the need to devise innovative methods of creation, while understanding that there is no perfect solution. The education community as a whole could benefit from incorporating and synthesizing the instructional congruence framework in order to provide maximum opportunities in science for all students.

To determine the clinical effect of standardized training and management of peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) and catheter-related complications. A total of 610 patients were divided into a control group and an observation group, the control group (n=300) were catheterized by trainees who received "short-term intensive training", the observation group (n=310) by "system standardized training and management". The clinical efficacy of catheterization and the rate of catheter-related complications were compared. There was significant difference in the one-time puncture success rate, one-time cannulation success rate, the time for operation and the pain score between the 2 groups (all PPICC training and management can improve the effect of catheterization and reduce the incidence of PICC-related complication.

A decade ago, the Society of Prevention Research (SPR) endorsed a set of standards for evidence related to research on prevention interventions. These standards (Flay et al., Prevention Science 6:151-175, 2005) were intended in part to increase consistency in reviews of prevention research that often generated disparate lists of effective interventions due to the application of different standards for what was considered to be necessary to demonstrate effectiveness. In 2013, SPR's Board of Directors decided that the field has progressed sufficiently to warrant a review and, if necessary, publication of "the next generation" of standards of evidence. The Board convened a committee to review and update the standards. This article reports on the results of this committee's deliberations, summarizing changes made to the earlier standards and explaining the rationale for each change. The SPR Board of Directors endorses "The Standards of Evidence for Efficacy, Effectiveness, and Scale-up Research in Prevention Science: Next Generation."

In (1)the one Higgs doublet standard model was obtained by an orbifold projection of a 5D supersymmetric theory in an essentially unique way, resulting in a prediction for the Higgs mass m H = 127 +- 8 GeV and for the compactification scale 1/R = 370 +- 70 GeV. The dominant one loop contribution to the Higgs potential was found to be finite, while the above uncertainties arose from quadratically divergent brane Z factors and from other higher loop contributions. In (3), a quadratically divergent Fayet-Iliopoulos term was found at one loop in this theory. We show that the resulting uncertainties in the predictions for the Higgs boson mass and the compactification scale are small, about 25percent of the uncertainties quoted above, and hence do not affect the original predictions. However, a tree level brane Fayet-Iliopoulos term could, if large enough, modify these predictions, especially for 1/R.

Renewables portfolio standards (RPS) could be an important policy instrument for 3P and 4P control. We examine the costs of renewable power, accounting for the federal production tax credit, the market value of a renewable credit, and the value of producing electricity without emissions of SO2, NOx, mercury, and CO2. We focus on Texas, which has a large RPS and is the largest U.S. electricity producer and one of the largest emitters of pollutants and CO2. We estimate the private and social costs of wind generation in an RPS compared with the current cost of fossil generation, accounting for the pollution and CO2 emissions. We find that society paid about 5.7 cent/kWh more for wind power, counting the additional generation, transmission, intermittency, and other costs. The higher cost includes credits amounting to 1.1 cent/kWh in reduced SO2, NOx, and Hg emissions. These pollution reductions and lower CO2 emissions could be attained at about the same cost using pulverized coal (PC) or natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) plants with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS); the reductions could be obtained more cheaply with an integrated coal gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plant with CCS.

The sensory neocortex is a highly connected associative network that integrates information from multiple senses, even at the level of the primary sensory areas. Although a growing body of empirical evidence supports this view, the neural mechanisms of cross-modal integration in primary sensory areas, such as the primary visual cortex (V1), are still largely unknown. Using two-photon calcium imaging in awake mice, we show that the encoding of audiovisual stimuli in V1 neuronal populations is highly dependent on the features of the stimulus constituents. When the visual and auditory stimulus features were modulated at the same rate (i.e., temporally congruent), neurons responded with either an enhancement or suppression compared with unisensory visual stimuli, and their prevalence was balanced. Temporally incongruent tones or white-noise bursts included in audiovisual stimulus pairs resulted in predominant response suppression across the neuronal population. Visual contrast did not influence multisensory processing when the audiovisual stimulus pairs were congruent; however, when white-noise bursts were used, neurons generally showed response suppression when the visual stimulus contrast was high whereas this effect was absent when the visual contrast was low. Furthermore, a small fraction of V1 neurons, predominantly those located near the lateral border of V1, responded to sound alone. These results show that V1 is involved in the encoding of cross-modal interactions in a more versatile way than previously thought. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The neural substrate of cross-modal integration is not limited to specialized cortical association areas but extends to primary sensory areas. Using two-photon imaging of large groups of neurons, we show that multisensory modulation of V1 populations is strongly determined by the individual and shared features of cross-modal stimulus constituents, such as contrast, frequency, congruency, and temporal structure. Congruent

Many European countries perform rapid assessments of the relative effectiveness (RE) of pharmaceuticals as part of the reimbursement decision making process. Increased sharing of information on RE across countries may save costs and reduce duplication of work. The objective of this article is to describe the development of a tool for rapid assessment of RE of new pharmaceuticals that enter the market, the HTA Core Model® for Rapid Relative Effectiveness Assessment (REA) of Pharmaceuticals. Eighteen member organisations of the European Network of Health Technology Assessment (EUnetHTA) participated in the development of the model. Different versions of the model were developed and piloted in this collaboration and adjusted accordingly based on feedback on the content and feasibility of the model. The final model deviates from the traditional HTA Core Model® used for assessing other types of technologies. This is due to the limited scope (strong focus on RE), the timing of the assessment (just after market authorisation), and strict timelines (e.g. 90 days) required for performing the assessment. The number of domains and assessment elements was limited and it was decided that the primary information sources should preferably be a submission file provided by the marketing authorisation holder and the European Public Assessment Report. The HTA Core Model® for Rapid REA (version 3.0) was developed to produce standardised transparent RE information of pharmaceuticals. Further piloting can provide input for possible improvements, such as further refining the assessment elements and new methodological guidance on relevant areas.

Full Text Available This research aims to form an effective supervision model of a standard clause to protect consumer’s rights and interests. This study answers the questions the effectiveness of a standard clause supervision carried out by Otoritas Jasa Keuangan [Financial Services Authority (OJK] and Badan Penyelesaian Sengketa Konsumen [Consumer Dispute Settlement Agency (BPSK]; effective supervision model of a standard clause which can protect the rights and interest of the consumer. The object of this study are OJK and BPSK as a supervision of a standard clause. The result of this research shows that the supervision of standard clause done by those institutions has not been effective yet, this caused by several factors to wit the weakness of implementing regulation in terms of supervision, unclear supervision mechanism, the weakness of socialization related to the rules of standard clause towards business actors, and other weakness and obstacles faced by both institutions. The effective supervision model of standard clause is being formed that based on five points, namely: (1 the needs of institution/agency reformation who authorize to do supervision of standard clause; (2 the needs to determine the scope of duty and authority of standard clause supervision institution; (3 the needs of determination of material range about standard clause subjected to supervision which comprises: the content, the form, the position and the expression; (4 the needs of precise mechanism of standard clause supervision conducted by supervision institution; (5 the needs of following up the supervision results, especially to the business actors who break the standard clause rules.

1.1 This guide provides advice for conducting experiments to investigate the effects of helium on the properties of metals where the technique for introducing the helium differs in some way from the actual mechanism of introduction of helium in service. Simulation techniques considered for introducing helium shall include charged particle implantation, exposure to α-emitting radioisotopes, and tritium decay techniques. Procedures for the analysis of helium content and helium distribution within the specimen are also recommended. 1.2 Two other methods for introducing helium into irradiated materials are not covered in this guide. They are the enhancement of helium production in nickel-bearing alloys by spectral tailoring in mixed-spectrum fission reactors, and isotopic tailoring in both fast and mixed-spectrum fission reactors. These techniques are described in Refs (1-5). Dual ion beam techniques (6) for simultaneously implanting helium and generating displacement damage are also not included here. This lat...

In this paper, we analyzed how the CAFE standard has affected improvements in the fuel economy of vehicles, as examined in other preceding studies, but in addition, we also analyzed how these standards have affected the level of consumer interest in fuel economy. Our goal was to determine what effects the government intervention has had on consumers, and whether such intervention ought to be continued. The results showed that not only has the CAFE standard had a direct and significant impact on improving fuel economy and increasing the market share of fuel-efficient vehicles, it has also boosted the development of technologies for enhancing fuel economy and raised consumer interest in fuel economy, thus indirectly contributing to overcoming market failure. The significance of this study is that we used publically available observed data and analyzed the recent impact of the CAFE standard specifically with a focus on the behavior and strategies exhibited by consumers and automakers. Another significance of this study is that it extends our purview to examine the effects that the CAFE standard has had in other countries (Korea). - Highlights: •CAFE standards have raised consumer interest in fuel economy such as MPG. •CAFE standards had a significant impact on increasing fuel-efficient vehicles •Sales of HEVs are more significantly affected by CAFE standards than by WTI. •CAFE standards had a significant impact on a foreign vehicle market. •Analysis suggests the standards will continue to be necessary for market growth.

This paper considers the issue of corporate social responsibility (CSR) standard impact assessment in global value chains. CSR standards have proliferated in recent years, and several studies have attempted to assess their effects on local producers, workers, and the environment in developing...... good to the intended beneficiaries - developing country firms, farmers, workers, and communities - unless these ethical and political dilemmas are given serious consideration....

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to give a foundation for providing a new soft algebraic tool in considering many problems containing uncertainties. In order to provide these new soft algebraic structures, we discuss a new soft set-(M, N-soft intersection set, which is a generalization of soft intersection sets. We introduce the concepts of (M, N-SI filters of BL-algebras and establish some characterizations. Especially, (M, N-soft congruences in BL-algebras are concerned.

. These pathways, however, have rarely been assessed in systematic case-based research. This study implements a “middle-N” qualitative congruence analysis of 16 conflicts, focusing on the observable implications of the pathways through which inequalities are typically theorized to influence conflict. The study......The relationship between inequality and civil conflict has attracted considerable interest in conflict research. Recent large-N studies have shown that inequalities significantly contribute to the outbreak of civil conflict and have proposed a number of causal pathways to account for this...

Supplemented Parenteral Nutrition on Neutrophil Functions, Interleukin-8 Level and Length of ... Standard TPN and glutamine and lipid emulsion with omega 3 fatty acids were given to colorectal cancer patients and the effects of these to neutrophil ...

Representatives of facilities that routinely deliver protons for radiation effect testing are collaborating to establish a set of standard best practices for proton dosimetry. These best practices will be submitted to the ASTM International for adoption

Representatives of facilities that routinely deliver protons for radiation effect testing are collaborating to establish a set of standard best practices for proton dosimetry. These best practices will be submitted to the ASTM International for adoption.

"This report assesses and provides guidance on best practices in performance measurement, management and standards : setting for effective Transportation Asset Management (TAM). The study is conducted through a literature review, a : survey of the 50...

This paper aims to draw attention to and provide insights into an area that is of educational significance for clinical teachers, namely the need to acknowledge and respond appropriately to the emotional context of both learning and health encounters in order to improve the outcomes of both. This need has been highlighted by recent calls for more attention to be paid to the role of emotion within medical education and within health care provision. What is already known about the role of emotion in learner-teacher encounters and in patient-doctor encounters will be used to develop the concept of emotional congruence within these two types of encounter as a challenge to clinical teachers to examine their own practice. The reasons why emotional congruence is not always apparent in the learning environment of the teaching hospital will be discussed using the model of the 'hidden curriculum'. It will be suggested that explicit strategies to counteract the hidden curriculum in relation to emotion can bring about transformative change in individual practice and the health care environment that has the potential to improve both learning and health outcomes.

The purpose of this study was to compare the prevalence rate estimates and congruence in classification status derived from two popular measures of adolescent gambling (SOGS-RA and MAGS-7). Adolescents from three states (Alabama, Mississippi, and Oregon) completed an anonymous questionnaire ( n =1846 high school students total). Results indicate that the prevalence of probable adolescent pathological gambling varied both as a function of instrument and cut-off point utilized for classification (range 1.7%-8.2%). Classification groups (non-problem, at-risk, and problem gamblers) generated by both instruments were found to be associated with reports of gambling frequency, amount of money lost in one gambling occasion, and parental gambling problems. However, concern was raised because the MAGS-7 and the SOGS-RA had little congruence in their three-group classification decisions for specific individuals (e.g., only 20.5% agreement for problem gamblers). To improve clinical utility, an empirical case was made for using the SOGS-RA to generate a fourth group of adolescent gamblers, which we labeled "probable pathological gamblers" (SOGS-RA > or = 6). This group was differentiated from the remaining gambling groups on all the validity indices. The implications and limitations of these findings, as well as future directions, are discussed.

Vision typically has better spatial accuracy and precision than audition and as a result often captures auditory spatial perception when visual and auditory cues are presented together. One determinant of visual capture is the amount of spatial disparity between auditory and visual cues: when disparity is small, visual capture is likely to occur, and when disparity is large, visual capture is unlikely. Previous experiments have used two methods to probe how visual capture varies with spatial disparity. First, congruence judgment assesses perceived unity between cues by having subjects report whether or not auditory and visual targets came from the same location. Second, auditory localization assesses the graded influence of vision on auditory spatial perception by having subjects point to the remembered location of an auditory target presented with a visual target. Previous research has shown that when both tasks are performed concurrently they produce similar measures of visual capture, but this may not hold when tasks are performed independently. Here, subjects alternated between tasks independently across three sessions. A Bayesian inference model of visual capture was used to estimate perceptual parameters for each session, which were compared across tasks. Results demonstrated that the range of audiovisual disparities over which visual capture was likely to occur was narrower in auditory localization than in congruence judgment, which the model indicates was caused by subjects adjusting their prior expectation that targets originated from the same location in a task-dependent manner.

Trends in the entrance skin exposures (air kerma) for standard x-ray imaging procedures are reported for the Province of Manitoba, Canada. Average annual data per procedure using standard phantoms and standard ion chambers have been recorded since 1981. For example, chest air kerma (backscatter included) has decreased from 0.14 to 0.09 mGy. Confounding factors may negate the gains unless facility quality control programs are maintained. The data were obtained for a quality assurance and regulatory compliance program. Quoting such data for risk evaluation purposes lacks rigor hence a compartment model for organ apportioning, using organ absorbed doses and weighting factors, has been applied to determine effective dose per procedure. The effective doses for the standard procedures are presented, including the value of 0.027 mSv (1999) calculated for the effective dose in PA chest imaging. (author)

Full Text Available The objective of this study was to assess the cost-effectiveness of induction and maintenance treatment up to 1 year of ulcerative colitis with golimumab/standard care and standard care alone in Poland.A Markov model was used to estimate the expected costs and effects of golimumab/standard care and a standard care alone. For each treatment option the costs and quality adjusted life years were calculated to estimate the incremental cost-utility ratio. The analysis was performed from the perspective of the Polish public payer and society over a 30-years time horizon. The clinical parameters were derived mainly from the PURSUIT-SC and PURSUIT-M clinical trials. Different direct and indirect costs and utility values were assigned to the various model health states.The treatment of ulcerative colitis patients with golimumab/standard care instead of a standard care alone resulted in 0.122 additional years of life with full health. The treatment with golimumab/standard care was found to be more expensive than treatment with the standard care alone from the public payer perspective and from social perspective. The incremental cost-utility ratio of golimumab/standard care compared to the standard care alone is estimated to be 391,252 PLN/QALY gained (93,155 €/QALYG from public payer perspective and 374,377 PLN/QALY gained (89,137 €/QALYG from social perspective.The biologic treatment of ulcerative colitis patients with golimumab/standard care is more effective but also more costly compared with standard care alone.

The credit card industry established the PCI Data Security Standards to provide a minimum standard for how vendors should protect data to ensure it is not stolen by fraudsters. PCI Compliance, 3e, provides the information readers need to understand the current PCI Data Security standards, which have recently been updated to version 2.0, and how to effectively implement security within your company to be compliant with the credit card industry guidelines and protect sensitive and personally identifiable information. Security breaches continue to occur on a regular basis, affecting millions of

CP violation in the standard model originates from the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa mixing matrix. Upon integrating all fermions out of the theory, its effects are captured by a series of effective nonrenormalizable operators for the bosonic gauge and Higgs fields. We compute the CP-violating part...... of the effective action to the leading nontrivial, sixth order in the covariant gradient expansion as a function of temperature. In the limit of zero temperature, our result addresses the discrepancy between two independent calculations existing in the literature [1, 2]. We find that CP violation in the standard...

The Dick effect is one of the main limits to the frequency stability of a passive frequency standard, especially for the fountain clock and ion clock operated in pulsed mode which require unavoidable dead time during interrogation. Here we measure the phase noise of the interrogation oscillator applied in the microwave frequency standard based on laser-cooled 113Cd+ ions, and analyze the Allan deviation limited by the Dick effect. The results indicate that the Dick effect is one of the key issues for the cadmium ion clock to reach expected frequency stability. This problem can be resolved by interrogating the local oscillator continuously with two ion traps.

The need of standardization in risk management is justified by the efforts to develop and introduce, during the last few years, integrated risk management frameworks inside the organizations. The financial crisis has underscored the fact that significant improvements in risk management organizations and capabilities are required. The business community and also the experts recognize that the risk management standards have an important role in improving the effectiveness of integrated risk man...

The effective potential in scalar QFT is calculated in the non-standard perturbative methods and compared with the conventional loop expansion. In the space time dimensions 0 and 1 the results are compared with the ''exact'' effective potential obtained numerically. In 4 dimensions we show that λφ 4 theory is non-interacting. (author)

We compute some nondecoupling effects in the standard model, such as the ρ parameter, to all orders in the coupling constant expansion. We analyze their large order behavior and explicitly show how they are related to the nonperturbative cutoff dependence of these nondecoupling effects due to the triviality of the theory

Full Text Available In the initial phases of the global economic and financial crisis ECB reacted by lowering interest rates to a historic minimum. After the crash of Lehman Brothers and strengthening of financial tensions in the EU and later on the sovereign debt crisis in the euro zone, ECB was forced to search for resource in the non-standard monetary policy measures. The ECB non-standard monetary policy changed the structure and the balance sheet size, and through actions and undertaken measures in the crisis which is still ongoing, strives to conduct the policy of the anticipated long-term interest rate. This paper offers a review of the ECB non-standard policy measures applied and the manner in which monetary policy is spilling over on to the banking and the real sector, but also the effects of the balance sheet expansion on the effects of certain macroeconomic variables. VAR model shows that the effects of the ECB balance sheet expansion are having a positive impact on the macroeconomy effects, i.e. on the two variables, output and prices, and the economic growth. The long-term effects of the non-standard monetary policy implementation remain uncertain and bear the risk of resurrection of undesired financial shocks. The manner in which ECB can avoid the uncertainty of these policies, over a long-term, is to start with gradual 'narrowing down of the non-standard policy', e. to create prerequisite for an exit strategy.

Full Text Available The objective of mandatory adoption of IFRS is to enhance the quality of accounting information in worldwide. However, this effort made challenged for European Union as a supranational body to achieve similar advantages of converged the IFRS standards. This study examines the effectiveness of IFRS on the European Union as a supranational body and whether the EU has successfully converged to the IFRS standards. The paper will also analyze if there are any difficulties with switching to the IFRS standards versus the traditional local accounting practices in EU. The results obtained show that the first application of IFRS has adopted among EU countries and the results indicate that the adoption of IFRS leads to improvement in value relevance. The results also imply that the IFRS adoption for EU does not ensure better quality of accounting information and standardized IFRS is not effective to implement for all EU because there is a lot of misperception in terms of these guidelines for preparing financial statement. The culture difference among EU shows that IFRS is not fits size standard for all EU that can lead EU to conform at the same time. The conclusion of this report will provide the answer whether it is or not effective for the EU to fully converge to the IFRS standards as a whole.

Abnormal patellofemoral joint alignment has been discussed as a potential risk factor for patellofemoral disorders and can impact the longevity of any elite athlete's career. The prevalence of abnormal patellofemoral congruence in elite American football athletes is similar to the general population and does not have a relationship with quadriceps isokinetic testing. A total of 125 athletes (220 knees) from the 2011 National Football League (NFL) Combine database who had radiographic and isokinetic studies were reviewed. Congruence angles (CA) and lateral patellofemoral angles (LPA) were calculated on a Merchant radiographic view. Isokinetic testing was used to determine quadriceps-to-hamstring strength (Q/H) ratio and side-to-side deficits. The relationships between abnormal CA and LPA with Q/H ratios, side-to-side deficits, and body mass index (BMI) were examined in separate logistic regression models. A Chi-square test was used to examine the association between CA and player position. Of all, 26.8% of the knees (95% CI: 21.1-33.2%) had an abnormal CA. Knees with normal CA (n = 161) did not significantly differ from those with an abnormal CA (n = 59) in Q/H ratios (mean: 0.699 vs. 0.728, p = 0.19) or side-to-side quadriceps deficits (mean: 4.0 vs. 1.24, p = 0.45). For each point increase in BMI, the odds ratio (OR) of abnormal congruence increased by 11.4% (p = 0.002). Of all the knees, 4.1% (95% CI: 1.9-7.6%) had an abnormal LPA, and this was not associated with Q/H ratios (p = 0.13). For each point increase in BMI, the odds of abnormal LPA increased by 16% (p = 0.036). CA abnormality had much higher odds of having an abnormal LPA (OR: 5.96, p = 0.014). We found that abnormal patellofemoral radiographic alignment in elite American football players is relatively common and there was no association with isokinetic testing. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Students' and teachers' perceptions of the level to which Assesment for Learning (AfL) is practiced in classrooms are largely incongruent. Teachers perceived more practice of AfL than students. Congruency in perceptions of AfL predicted higher student intrinsic motivation. In accordance with

Background: Patients are increasingly expected and asked to be involved in health care decisions. In this decision-making process, preferences for participation are important. In this systematic review we aim to provide an overview the literature related to the congruence between patients'

This study examined the influence of cultural congruency between societal and organizational cultures on Mexican supervisors' and employees' communication behaviors and employees' work alienation, satisfaction, and commitment. The participants were full time nonmanagement adults working for Mexican owned organizations located in Mexico. This study…

The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between learning climate congruence and the affective commitment of university academics. The strategy of inquiry for this research is quantitative, involving a non-experimental design for the survey research. A non-probability sample of 900 academics from a large Australian university was…

This ethnographic inquiry examines the cultural congruence between home and school in rural Ghana, exploring the cultural norms of child-rearing practices within families and the institution of schooling. The data illustrate both the agreement between home and school in regard to discipline practices and instruction in morality, while…

Reaction times for categorization of a probe face according to its sex or fame were contrasted as a function of whether the category of a preceding, sandwich-masked prime face was congruent or incongruent. Prime awareness was measured by the ability to later categorize the primes, and this was close to chance and typically uncorrelated with priming. When prime faces were never presented as visible probes within a test, priming was not reliable; when prime faces were also seen as probes, priming was only reliable if visible and masked presentation of faces were interleaved (not simply if primes had been visible in a previous session). In the latter case, priming was independent of experimentally induced face-response or face-category contingencies, ruling out any simple form of stimulus-response learning. We conclude that the reliable masked congruency priming reflects bindings between stimuli and multiple, abstract classifications that can be generated both overtly and covertly.

Full Text Available Abstract This study explored how having differing goals and motives for learning a second language influences adaptation in the foreign culture. Specifically, we compared English as a second language (ESL students in two programs, which differed in their long-term goal orientations. Some students were taking ESL courses in order to attend university in their second language, whereas other ESL students took courses that were not followed by an immediate reward. Students in both programs completed measures of acculturation as well as measures of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for learning English. We found that adaptation to the foreign culture, in the form of acculturation, is best facilitated by congruence between students’ motives and goals. The findings are discussed in terms of their methodological and pedagogical implications

The aim of this study is to investigate the mediation effects of muscle activities on the relationship between production standard time and work productivity. The work productivity and muscle activities data are collected from twenty workers (10 males, 10 females) while performing industrial repetitive tasks at three different levels of production standard time corresponding to “normal”, “hard” and ‘very hard”. Mediation test was performed on the data and the results showed that muscle activities act as a mediator in the relationship between production standard time and work productivity. The result indicates the importance of assessing muscle activities in relation to work productivity at different levels of production standard time in order to optimize work productivity and reduce WMSDs risks.

Full Text Available Achieving cooperation in natural resource management is always a challenge when incentives exist for an individual to maximise her short term benefits at the cost of a group. We study a public good social dilemma in water infrastructure provision on land reform farms in Namibia. In the context of the Namibian land reform, arbitrarily mixed groups of livestock farmers have to share the operation and maintenance of water infrastructure. Typically, water is mainly used for livestock production, and livestock numbers are subject to high fluctuations due to the given environmental conditions. Our paper assesses how alternative payment systems with differing congruence of provision and appropriation support the cooperation in the group given the ever-changing equilibria. In a first step, we conducted an exploratory overview of the social-ecological system of central Namibian land reform projects. The Social Ecological System (SES Framework served as a guideline for this assessment (Ostrom 2009. Taking the complexity of the cooperation situation into account, in the second step we designed a role-play that is based on a social-ecological simulation model. The role-play simulates the real-life decision situations of land reform beneficiaries wherein equilibria are permanently changing. This approach helped us to not only better understand the cooperation challenges of Namibian land reform beneficiaries, but also supported stakeholders in their decision making and institution building. Our study provides evidence to support that land reform beneficiaries increase their contributions as they own more livestock and as other group members increase their payments. Nevertheless, only groups with relatively homogeneous livestock endowments manage to agree on payment rules. Interestingly, the dominant rule is an “equal payment per farmer” and not a “payment per head of livestock”, though the latter would imply a higher congruence of provision and

Correct description of optical properties of layers of disordered interacting nanoparticles is the problem. Contrary to volumes of nano composites, when standard models of effective-medium approximations (EMA) work well, two-dimensional case of layers has intrinsic anisotropy, which influences interparticle interactions. The deficiency of standard Maxwell-Garnett model in the application to the ellipsometry of layers of gold nanoparticles is demonstrated. It demands the modification of EMA models and one way of this is considered in this paper. Contrary to existing 2D models with phenomenological parameters, the proposed Green function approach uses the same number of parameters as standard 3D EMA models for explicit calculations of effective parameters of layers of disordered nanoparticles

Full Text Available Correct description of optical properties of layers of disordered interacting nanoparticles is the problem. Contrary to volumes of nanocomposites, when standard models of effective-medium approximations (EMA work well, two-dimensional case of layers has intrinsic anisotropy, which influences interparticle interactions. The deficiency of standard Maxwell-Garnett model in the application to the ellipsometry of layers of gold nanoparticles is demonstrated. It demands the modification of EMA models and one way of this is considered in this paper. Contrary to existing 2D models with phenomenological parameters, the proposed Green function approach uses the same number of parameters as standard 3D EMA models for explicit calculations of effective parameters of layers of disordered nanoparticles.

The aim of the study is to find out the effectiveness of mind mapping technique over conventional method in teaching English at high school level (VIII), in terms of Control and Experimental group. The sample of the study comprised, 60 VIII Standard students in Tiruchendur Taluk. Mind Maps and Achievement Test (Pretest & Posttest) were…

Physical educators are often held to a higher standard of physical fitness. The ability to effectively convey the importance of physical fitness may depend upon the ability to appear physically fit. The ability to perform at a minimal level of proficiency on fitness tests was deemed important by the faculty of one physical education teacher…

The purpose of this quantitative, causal-comparative study was to compare the effect elementary music and visual arts lessons had on third through sixth grade standardized mathematics test scores. Inferential statistics were used to compare the differences between test scores of students who took in-school, elementary, music instruction during the…

Using detailed longitudinal data for the state of California, this paper estimates the effect of year-round school calendars on nationally standardized test performance of traditionally disadvantaged students. The student subgroups studied in this paper are: low socioeconomic status, limited English proficiency, Hispanic and Latino, and African…

We present the calculation of the CP conserving contributions to Γ(h→γγ), from dimension six operators at one-loop order, in the linear standard model effective field theory. We discuss the impact of these corrections on interpreting current and future experimental bounds on this decay.

Abstract Background. Reports of a single case of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) eradication suggest that elimination of HIV from individuals is possible. Anticipating both increased research funding and the development of effective, durable cure technologies, we describe the circumstances under which a cure might improve survival and be cost-effective in South Africa. Methods. We adapted a simulation model comparing a hypothetical cure strategy (?Cure?) to the standard of care, lifetime a...

Educators have recently come to consider inquiry based instruction as a more effective method of instruction than didactic instruction. Experience based learning theory suggests that student performance is linked to teaching method. However, research is limited on inquiry teaching and its effectiveness on preparing students to perform well on standardized tests. The purpose of the study to investigate whether one of these two teaching methodologies was more effective in increasing student performance on standardized science tests. The quasi experimental quantitative study was comprised of two stages. Stage 1 used a survey to identify teaching methods of a convenience sample of 57 teacher participants and determined level of inquiry used in instruction to place participants into instructional groups (the independent variable). Stage 2 used analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) to compare posttest scores on a standardized exam by teaching method. Additional analyses were conducted to examine the differences in science achievement by ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status by teaching methodology. Results demonstrated a statistically significant gain in test scores when taught using inquiry based instruction. Subpopulation analyses indicated all groups showed improved mean standardized test scores except African American students. The findings benefit teachers and students by presenting data supporting a method of content delivery that increases teacher efficacy and produces students with a greater cognition of science content that meets the school's mission and goals.

This paper considers the issue of corporate social responsibility (CSR) standard impact assessment in global value chains. CSR standards have proliferated in recent years, and several studies have attempted to assess their effects on local producers, workers, and the environment in developing...... countries. However, much less attention has been paid to the “dark side” of impact assessment – the ethical and political dilemmas that arise in the process of carrying out impact studies. This paper addresses this gap in literature, arguing that impact assessments of CSR standards may do more harm than...... good to the intended beneficiaries - developing country firms, farmers, workers, and communities - unless these ethical and political dilemmas are given serious consideration....

This research tests the possibility that the reasonable woman as compared to the reasonable person test of hostile work environment sexual harassment interacts with hostile and benevolent sexist beliefs and under some conditions triggers protectionist attitudes toward women who complain of sexual harassment. We administered to a sample of undergraduates the ambivalent sexism inventory along with the fact patterns in two harassment cases and asked them to make legally relevant decisions under either the reasonable woman or person standard. We found that those high in hostile sexism, and women, found more evidence of harassment. However, those high in benevolent sexism did not exhibit the hostile sexism effects. Although men were less sensitive to the reasonable woman standard than women, under some conditions the reasonable woman standard enabled both genders to find greater evidence of harassment. The results are discussed from the perspectives of law and psychology.

We study several problems related to the construction and the use of effective Lagrangians by considering an extension of the standard model that includes a heavy scalar singlet coupled to the leptonic doublet. Starting from the full renormalizable model, we build an effective field theory by integrating out the heavy scalar. A local effective Lagrangian (up to operators of dimension six) is obtained by expanding the one-loop effective action in inverse powers of the heavy mass. This is done by matching some Green functions calculated with both the full and the effective theories. Using this simple example we study the renormalization of effective Lagrangians in general and discuss how they can be used to bound new physics. We also discuss the effective Lagrangian after spontaneous symmetry breaking, and the use of the standard model classical equations of motion to rewrite it in different forms. The final effective Lagrangian in the physical basis is well suited to the study of the phenomenology of the model...

Adverse psychosocial work factors are recognized as a significant source of psychological distress, resulting in a considerable socioeconomic burden. The impact of occupational health standards that aim to reduce these adverse work factors, such as the Quebec Healthy Enterprise Standard (QHES), is of great interest for public health. The aim of this study was to evaluate, for the first time, the effect of QHES interventions targeting adverse psychosocial work factors on the prevalence of these factors and of psychological distress among ten Quebec organizations. These outcomes were assessed by questionnaire using validated instruments before (T1, n = 2849) and 2-3 years following (T2, n = 2560) QHES implementation. Beneficial effects of interventions were observed for two adverse psychosocial work factors: low rewards (ratio of prevalence ratios (PRs) = 0.77, 95% CI = 0.66-0.91) and low social support at work (ratio of PRs = 0.89, 95% CI = 0.77-1.03). Moreover, beneficial effects of interventions were also observed on the prevalence of high psychological distress (ratio of PRs = 0.86, 95% CI = 0.75-0.998). Psychosocial interventions implemented in the context of this standard improved the psychosocial work environment and had beneficial effects on workers' mental health.

In this paper we estimate the cost-effectiveness, in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, of increasing the corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standard to 38 miles per gallon and substituting methanol, compressed natural gas (CNG), and reformulated gasoline for conventional gasoline. Greenhouse gas emissions are assessed over the entire fuel cycle and include carbon dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide, and nitrous oxide emissions. To account for joint environmental benefits, the cost per ton of greenhouse gas reduced is adjusted for reductions in volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions, an ozone precursor. CNG is found to be the most cost-effective of these alternatives, followed by increasing the CAFE standard, substituting methanol for gasoline, and substituting reformulated for conventional gasoline. Including the VOC benefits does not change the ranking of the alternatives, but does make the alternative fuels look better relative to increasing the CAFE standard. None of the alternatives look cost-effective should a carbon tax of $35 per ton be passed, and only CNG under optimistic assumptions looks cost-effective with a tax of $100 per ton of carbon. 35 refs., 4 figs., 6 tabs

Full Text Available Adverse psychosocial work factors are recognized as a significant source of psychological distress, resulting in a considerable socioeconomic burden. The impact of occupational health standards that aim to reduce these adverse work factors, such as the Quebec Healthy Enterprise Standard (QHES, is of great interest for public health. The aim of this study was to evaluate, for the first time, the effect of QHES interventions targeting adverse psychosocial work factors on the prevalence of these factors and of psychological distress among ten Quebec organizations. These outcomes were assessed by questionnaire using validated instruments before (T1, n = 2849 and 2–3 years following (T2, n = 2560 QHES implementation. Beneficial effects of interventions were observed for two adverse psychosocial work factors: low rewards (ratio of prevalence ratios (PRs = 0.77, 95% CI = 0.66–0.91 and low social support at work (ratio of PRs = 0.89, 95% CI = 0.77–1.03. Moreover, beneficial effects of interventions were also observed on the prevalence of high psychological distress (ratio of PRs = 0.86, 95% CI = 0.75–0.998. Psychosocial interventions implemented in the context of this standard improved the psychosocial work environment and had beneficial effects on workers’ mental health.

This paper evaluates alternative transportation policies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and ozone precursors. The net cost-effectiveness -- i.e., the cost per ton of greenhouse gas reduced, adjusted for ozone reduction benefits -- of substituting methanol, compressed natural gas (CNG), and reformulated gasoline for conventional gasoline is assessed and compared with the cost-effectiveness of raising the corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standard to 38 miles per gallon. Computing this open-quotes netclose quotes cost-effectiveness is one way of measuring the joint environmental benefits that these alternatives provide. Greenhouse gas emissions are assessed over the entire fuel cycle and include not only carbon dioxide emissions, but also methane, carbon monoxide, and nitrous oxide emissions. In computing cost-effectiveness, we account for the so-called open-quotes rebound effectclose quotes -- the impact on vehicle-miles traveled of higher or lower fuel costs. CNG is found to be the most cost-effective of these alternatives, followed by increasing the CAFE standard, substituting methanol for gasoline, and substituting reformulated for conventional gasoline. Including the ozone reduction benefits does not change the rankings of the alternatives, but does make the alternative fuels look better relative to increasing the CAFE standard. Incorporating the rebound effect greatly changes the magnitude of the estimates but does not change the rankings of the alternatives. None of the alternatives look cost-effective should a carbon tax of $35 per ton be passes (the proposal in the Stark bill, H.R. 1086), and only CNG under optimistic assumptions looks cost-effective if a tax of $100 per ton of carbon is passed

Human long-term memory for visual objects and scenes is tremendous. Here, we test how auditory information contributes to long-term memory performance for realistic scenes. In a total of six experiments, we manipulated the presentation modality (auditory, visual, audio-visual) as well as semantic congruency and temporal synchrony between auditory and visual information of brief filmic clips. Our results show that audio-visual clips generally elicit more accurate memory performance than unimodal clips. This advantage even increases with congruent visual and auditory information. However, violations of audio-visual synchrony hardly have any influence on memory performance. Memory performance remained intact even with a sequential presentation of auditory and visual information, but finally declined when the matching tracks of one scene were presented separately with intervening tracks during learning. With respect to memory performance, our results therefore show that audio-visual integration is sensitive to semantic congruency but remarkably robust against asymmetries between different modalities.

We study the impact of dimension-six operators of the standard model effective field theory relevant for vector-boson fusion and associated Higgs boson production at the LHC. We present predictions at the next-to-leading order accuracy in QCD that include matching to parton showers and that rely on fully automated simulations. We show the importance of the subsequent reduction of the theoretical uncertainties in improving the possible discrimination between effective field theory and standard model results, and we demonstrate that the range of the Wilson coefficient values allowed by a global fit to LEP and LHC Run I data can be further constrained by LHC Run II future results. (orig.)

We study the impact of dimension-six operators of the standard model effective field theory relevant for vector-boson fusion and associated Higgs boson production at the LHC. We present predictions at the next-to-leading order accuracy in QCD that include matching to parton showers and that rely on fully automated simulations. We show the importance of the subsequent reduction of the theoretical uncertainties in improving the possible discrimination between effective field theory and standard model results, and we demonstrate that the range of the Wilson coefficient values allowed by a global fit to LEP and LHC Run I data can be further constrained by LHC Run II future results.

There is great interest in developing an international standard related to space weather in order to specify the tools and parameters needed for space systems operations. In particular, a standard is important for satellite operators who may not be familiar with space weather. In addition, there are others who participate in space systems operations that would also benefit from such a document. For example, the developers of software systems that provide LEO satellite orbit determination, radio communication availability for scintillation events (GEO-to-ground L and UHF bands), GPS uncertainties, and the radiation environment from ground-to-space for commercial space tourism. These groups require recent historical data, current epoch specification, and forecast of space weather events into their automated or manual systems. Other examples are national government agencies that rely on space weather data provided by their organizations such as those represented in the International Space Environment Service (ISES) group of 14 national agencies. Designers, manufacturers, and launchers of space systems require real-time, operational space weather parameters that can be measured, monitored, or built into automated systems. Thus, a broad scope for the document will provide a useful international standard product to a variety of engineering and science domains. The structure of the document should contain a well-defined scope, consensus space weather terms and definitions, and internationally accepted descriptions of the main elements of space weather, its sources, and its effects upon space systems. Appendices will be useful for describing expanded material such as guidelines on how to use the standard, how to obtain specific space weather parameters, and short but detailed descriptions such as when best to use some parameters and not others; appendices provide a path for easily updating the standard since the domain of space weather is rapidly changing with new advances

Taking this into consideration of diver cultural norms in Malaysian workplace, the propose model explores Malaysia culture and identity with a backdrop of the pushes and pulls of ethnic diversity in a Malaysia. The model seeks to understand relational norm congruence based on multiethnic in Malaysia that will be enable us to identify Malaysia cultural and identity. This is in line with recent call by various interest groups in Malaysia to focus more on model designs that capture contextual an...

Embodiment and agency are key aspects of how we perceive ourselves that have typically been associated with independent mechanisms. Recent work, however, has suggested that these mechanisms are related. The sense of agency arises from recognising a causal influence on the external world. This influence is typically realised through bodily movements and thus the perception of the bodily self could also be crucial for agency. We investigated whether a key index of agency - intentional binding - was modulated by body-specific information. Participants judged the interval between pressing a button and a subsequent tone. We used virtual reality to manipulate two aspects of movement feedback. First, form: participants viewed a virtual hand or sphere. Second, movement congruency: the viewed object moved congruently or incongruently with the participant's hidden hand. Both factors, form and movement congruency, significantly influenced embodiment. However, only movement congruency influenced intentional binding. Binding was increased for congruent compared to incongruent movement feedback irrespective of form. This shows that the comparison between viewed and performed movements provides an important cue for agency, whereas body-specific visual form does not. We suggest that embodiment and agency mechanisms both depend on comparisons across sensorimotor signals but that they are influenced by distinct factors.

Full Text Available The recent rhetoric of the "end" or "failure" of multiculturalism in Europe and beyond came as no surprise to anthropologists. Moreover, the statements made by leading politicians of key European economies seem as though they are based on the decades old anthropological critique of the consequences of the failed implementation of multicultural policies in Europe and on the global level. It is as though the messages we have been getting over the course of the last few years – that multicultural policies are contraindicated, that they weaken the contacts between cultures, rob individuals of the right to change and chose their identities and strengthen intra-cultural mediators of power, with patriarchy, violence against women and children, leaving school, religious fundamentalism and even terrorism as main consequences – are being read by politicians from anthropological analyses of abuses of collective "cultural" rights. The paper considers the nature of this similarity between the discourse of politicians and anthropologists with a special emphasis on the status of "Islam" in them, and discusses whether it is congruence or mere coincidence of stances toward minorities, immigrants and cultural differences, as toward the regulations which were tasked with protecting this diversity as a fundamental European value which today, at least at the rhetorical level, seems to be fading.

Integrating and extending the literatures on social power and person-environment fit, 4 studies tested the hypothesis that when people's dispositional beliefs about their capacity to influence others fit their assigned role power, they are more likely to engage in self-expression-that is, behave in line with their states and traits-thereby increasing their likelihood of being perceived by others in a manner congruent with their own self-judgments (i.e., self-other congruence). In Studies 1-3, dispositionally high- and low-power participants were randomly assigned to play a high- or low-power role in an interaction with a confederate. When participants' dispositional and role power fit (vs. conflicted), they reported greater self-expression (Study 1). Furthermore, under dispositional-role power fit conditions, the confederate's ratings of participants' emotional experiences (Study 2) and personality traits (Study 3) were more congruent with participants' self-reported emotions and traits. Study 4's results replicated Study 3's results using an implicit manipulation of power and outside observers' (rather than a confederate's) ratings of participants. Implications for research on power and person perception are discussed.

I find the three-loop contribution to the effective potential for the Standard Model Higgs field, in the approximation that the strong and top Yukawa couplings are large compared to all other couplings, using dimensional regularization with modified minimal subtraction. Checks follow from gauge invariance and renormalization group invariance. I also briefly comment on the special problems posed by Goldstone boson contributions to the effective potential, and on the numerical impact of the result on the relations between the Higgs vacuum expectation value, mass, and self-interaction coupling.

In the Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT), adults at high risk for cardiovascular disease who received intensive systolic blood-pressure control (target, target, costs associated with intensive control versus standard control. We used a microsimulation model to apply SPRINT treatment effects and health care costs from national sources to a hypothetical cohort of SPRINT-eligible adults. The model projected lifetime costs of treatment and monitoring in patients with hypertension, cardiovascular disease events and subsequent treatment costs, treatment-related risks of serious adverse events and subsequent costs, and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) for intensive control versus standard control of systolic blood pressure. We determined that the mean number of QALYs would be 0.27 higher among patients who received intensive control than among those who received standard control and would cost approximately $47,000 more per QALY gained if there were a reduction in adherence and treatment effects after 5 years; the cost would be approximately $28,000 more per QALY gained if the treatment effects persisted for the remaining lifetime of the patient. Most simulation results indicated that intensive treatment would be cost-effective (51 to 79% below the willingness-to-pay threshold of $50,000 per QALY and 76 to 93% below the threshold of $100,000 per QALY), regardless of whether treatment effects were reduced after 5 years or persisted for the remaining lifetime. In this simulation study, intensive systolic blood-pressure control prevented cardiovascular disease events and prolonged life and did so at levels below common willingness-to-pay thresholds per QALY, regardless of whether benefits were reduced after 5 years or persisted for the patient's remaining lifetime. (Funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and others; SPRINT ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01206062 .).

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Connecticut. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Florida. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Indiana. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of California. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Arizona. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Colorado. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Illinois. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Hawaii. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the District of Columbia. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Arkansas. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Idaho. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Delaware. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Georgia. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Alaska. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Alabama. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Washington. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of New Hampshire. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Montana. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of New York. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Oregon. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Tennessee. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Nebraska. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Oklahoma. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Kansas. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Ohio. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Virginia. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of New Mexico. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of North Carolina. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Iowa. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Pennsylvania. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Nevada. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Missouri. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Massachusetts. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Kentucky. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Wisconsin. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Louisiana. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of New Jersey. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Minnesota. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Maine. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Mississippi. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Utah. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Vermont. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Rhode Island. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Michigan. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of South Dakota. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Texas. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of North Dakota. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of Maryland. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of West Virginia. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

Moving to the ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (ASHRAE 2013) edition from Standard 90.1-2010 (ASHRAE 2010) is cost-effective for the State of South Carolina. The table below shows the state-wide economic impact of upgrading to Standard 90.1-2013 in terms of the annual energy cost savings in dollars per square foot, additional construction cost per square foot required by the upgrade, and life-cycle cost (LCC) per square foot. These results are weighted averages for all building types in all climate zones in the state, based on weightings shown in Table 4. The methodology used for this analysis is consistent with the methodology used in the national cost-effectiveness analysis. Additional results and details on the methodology are presented in the following sections. The report provides analysis of two LCC scenarios: Scenario 1, representing publicly-owned buildings, considers initial costs, energy costs, maintenance costs, and replacement costs—without borrowing or taxes. Scenario 2, representing privately-owned buildings, adds borrowing costs and tax impacts.

A set of 36 relatively independent categories of human performance were identified. These categories encompass human performance in the cognitive, perceptual, and psychomotor areas, and include diagnostic measures and sensitive performance metrics. Then a prototype standardized test battery was constructed, and research was conducted to obtain information on the sensitivity of the tests to stress, the sensitivity of selected categories of performance degradation, the time course of stress effects on each of the selected tests, and the learning curves associated with each test. A research project utilizing a three factor partially repeated analysis of covariance design was conducted in which 60 male subjects were exposed to variations in noise level and quality during performance testing. Effects of randomly intermittent noise on performance of the reaction time tests were observed, but most of the other performance tests showed consistent stability. The results of 14 analyses of covariance of the data taken from the performance of the 60 subjects on the prototype standardized test battery provided information which will enable the final development and test of a standardized test battery and the associated development of differential sensitivity metrics and diagnostic classificatory system.

Reciprocal effects models of longitudinal data show that academic self-concept is both a cause and an effect of achievement. In this study this model was extended to juxtapose self-concept with academic interest. Based on longitudinal data from 2 nationally representative samples of German 7th-grade students (Study 1: N = 5,649, M age = 13.4; Study 2: N = 2,264, M age = 13.7 years), prior self-concept significantly affected subsequent math interest, school grades, and standardized test scores, whereas prior math interest had only a small effect on subsequent math self-concept. Despite stereotypic gender differences in means, linkages relating these constructs were invariant over gender. These results demonstrate the positive effects of academic self-concept on a variety of academic outcomes and integrate self-concept with the developmental motivation literature.

GAMMA+ code solves the temperature field of the solid part and fluid part independently, by modeling the reactor core as porous media. And then, it solves two temperature fields of solid parts which are divided as 1 D fueled zone and multi D un fueled zone, simultaneously. In this code, a radial effective conductivity is used for simplicity in calculating unfueled zone, where this value is expressed as the sum of the conduction through the helium coolant and graphite moderator, and the cavity radiation heat transfer between coolant flow path and fuel block. Actually, GAMMA+ uses the value of the radial effective conductivity which is obtained through the correlations generalized by the void fraction. In order to obtain the most accurate value for radial effective conductivity, the full modeling of the actual fuel block would be needed. In this paper, CFD code, Fluent is applied to predict the accurate radial effective conductivity for a standard fuel block of VHTR reactor

Objectives: We compared the effectiveness of the Gold Standard Programme (a comprehensive smoking cessation intervention commonly used in Denmark) with other face-to-face smoking cessation programmes in Denmark after implementation in real life, and we identified factors associated with successful...... quitting. Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting: A total of 423 smoking cessation clinics from different settings reported data from 2001 to 2013. Participants: In total, 82 515 patients were registered. Smokers ≥15 years old and attending a programme with planned follow-up were included. Smokers who...... did not want further contact, who intentionally were not followed up or who lacked information about the intervention they received were excluded. A total of 46 287 smokers were included. Interventions: Various real-life smoking cessation interventions were identified and compared: The Gold Standard...

We evaluated the Massachusetts Fire Safe Cigarette Law's (FSCL's) effectiveness in preventing residential fires. We examined unintentional residential fires reported to the Massachusetts Fire Incident Reporting System from 2004 to 2010. We analyzed FSCL effect on the likelihood of cigarette- versus noncigarette-caused fires and effect modification by fire scenario factors by using an interrupted time series regression model. We analyzed the effect of FSCL on monthly fire rates with Poisson regression. Cigarettes caused 1629 unintentional residential fires during the study period. The FSCL was associated with a 28% (95% confidence interval = 12%, 41%) reduction in the odds of cigarette- versus noncigarette-caused fires, although not in analyses restricted to casualty fires, with smaller sample size. The largest reductions were among fires in which human factors were involved; that were first ignited on furniture, bedding, or soft goods; that occurred in living areas; or that occurred in the summer or winter. The FSCL appears to have decreased the likelihood of cigarette-caused residential fires, particularly in scenarios for which the ignition propensity standard was developed. Current standards should be adopted, and the need for strengthening should be considered.

The aim of this study was investigate the effect of photodynamic therapy (PDT) using curcumin (C) as a photosensitizing agent irradiated with an LED (L) in the blue wavelength as a light source on a standard and clinical isolate of Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans) in a planktonic suspension model. Suspensions of both strains were divided into 4 groups as follows: absence of C and L (control group: C-L-), with C and without L (C group: C+L-), absence of C with L (L group: C-L+) and presence of C and L (PDT group: C+L+). Three different concentrations of curcumin (0.75 mg/ml, 1.5 mg/ml and 3 mg/ml) and three light fluences of studied light source (24, 48 and 72 J cm(-2)) were tested. Aliquots of each studied group was plated in BHI agar and submitted to colony forming units counting (CFU/ml) and the data transformed into logarithmical scale. A high photoinactivation rate of more than 70% was verified to standard S. mutans strain submitted to PDT whereas the clinical isolate showed a lower sensitivity to all the associations of curcumin and LED. A slight bacterial reduction was verified to C+L- and C-L+, demonstrating no toxic effects to the isolated application of light and photosensitizer to both S. mutans strains tested. Photodynamic therapy using a combination of curcumin and blue LED presented a substantial antimicrobial effect on S. mutans standard strain in a planktonic suspension model with a less pronounced effect on its clinical isolate counterparts due to resistance to this alternative approach. Alternative antimicrobial approaches, as photodynamic therapy, should be encouraged due to optimal results against cariogenic bacteria aiming to prevent or treat dental caries.

... Effective Date for the Water Quality Standards for the State of Florida's Lakes and Flowing Waters AGENCY... Standards for the State of Florida's Lakes and Flowing Waters; Final Rule'' (inland waters rule) for six months to January 6, 2013. EPA's inland waters rule currently includes an effective date of July 6, 2012...

... Effective Date for the Water Quality Standards for the State of Florida's Lakes and Flowing Waters AGENCY... Standards for the State of Florida's Lakes and Flowing Waters; Final Rule'' (inland waters rule) for four months to July 6, 2012. EPA's inland waters rule included an effective date of March 6, 2012 for the...

Standardization is a significant tool to access global markets, transfer technology and promote good business practice. To teach systematically the concept, meanings, roles and benefits of standardization as a basic knowledge of engineering, encourages college students understand how the standardized engineering contributes to the current society. The study on establishing the educational program in standardization has been implemented by 5 years‧ trials and errors at Chiba Institute of Technology. And the model program and its educational effect have been examined by questionnaire of students‧ self- evaluation and comparison with other universities‧ program. As the result, the study found the importance of introducing Standardization Education to the higher education program.

South Korea's air quality standards are insufficient in terms of establishing a procedure for their management. The current system lacks a proper decision-making process and prior evidence is not considered. The purpose of this study is to propose a measure for establishing atmospheric environmental standards in South Korea that will take into consideration the health of its residents. In this paper, the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) of the US was examined in order to suggest ways, which consider health effects, to establish air quality standards in South Korea. Up-to-date research on the health effects of air pollution was then reviewed, and tools were proposed to utilize the key results. This was done in an effort to ensure the reliability of the standards with regard to public health. This study showed that scientific research on the health effects of air pollution and the methodology used in the research have contributed significantly to establishing air quality standards. However, as the standards are legally binding, the procedure should take into account the effects on other sectors. Realistically speaking, it is impossible to establish standards that protect an entire population from air pollution. Instead, it is necessary to find a balance between what should be done and what can be done. Therefore, establishing air quality standards should be done as part of an evidence-based policy that identifies the health effects of air pollution and takes into consideration political, economic, and social contexts.

1.1 This test method covers determination of the effects of cleaning solutions and liquid cleaner concentrates on painted aircraft surfaces (Note 1). Streaking, discoloration, and blistering may be determined visually. Softening is determined with a series of specially prepared pencils wherein determination of the softest pencil to rupture the paint film is made. Note 1—This test method is applicable to any paint film that is exposed to cleaning materials. MIL-PRF-85285 has been selected as a basic example. When other paint finishes are used, refer to the applicable material specification for panel preparation and system curing prior to testing. 1.2 The values stated in inch-pound units are to be regarded as standard. The values given in parentheses are mathematical conversions to SI units that are provided for information only and are not considered standard. 1.3 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user ...

The Gaia SpectroPhotometric Standard Stars (SPSS) survey started in 2006, was awarded almost 450 observing nights and accumulated almost 100 000 raw data frames with both photometric and spectroscopic observations. Such large observational effort requires careful, homogeneous, and automatic data reduction and quality control procedures. In this paper, we quantitatively evaluate instrumental effects that might have a significant (i.e., ≥ 1 %) impact on the Gaia SPSS flux calibration. The measurements involve six different instruments, monitored over the eight years of observations dedicated to the Gaia flux standards campaigns: DOLORES@TNG in La Palma, EFOSC2@NTT and ROSS@REM in La Silla, CAFOS@2.2 m in Calar Alto, BFOSC@Cassini in Loiano, and LaRuca@1.5 m in San Pedro Mártir. We examine and quantitatively evaluate the following effects: CCD linearity and shutter times, calibration frames stability, lamp flexures, second order contamination, light polarization, and fringing. We present methods to correct for the relevant effects which can be applied to a wide range of observational projects at similar instruments. Based on data obtained with BFOSC@Cassini in Loiano, Italy; EFOSC2@NTT in La Silla, Chile; DOLORES@TNG in La Palma, Spain; CAFOS@2.2 m in Calar Alto, Spain; LaRuca@1.5 m in San Pedro Mártir, Mexico (see acknowledgements for more details).

To evaluate whether the current Canadian tritium drinking water limit is protective of aquatic biota, an in vitro study was designed to assess the biological effects of low concentrations of tritium, similar to what would typically be found near a Canadian nuclear power station, and higher concentrations spanning the range of international tritium drinking water standards. Channel catfish peripheral blood B-lymphoblast and fathead minnow testis cells were exposed to 10-100,000 Bq l(-1) of tritium, after which eight molecular and cellular endpoints were assessed. Increased numbers of DNA strand breaks were observed and ATP levels were increased. There were no increases in γH2AX-mediated DNA repair. No differences in cell growth were noted. Exposure to the lowest concentrations of tritium were associated with a modest increase in the viability of fathead minnow testicular cells. Using the micronucleus assay, an adaptive response was observed in catfish B-lymphoblasts. Using molecular endpoints, biological responses to tritium in the range of Canadian and international drinking water standards were observed. At the cellular level, no detrimental effects were noted on growth or cycling, and protective effects were observed as an increase in cell viability and an induced resistance to a large challenge dose.

There are heat losses during the cycle of a real engine that are neglected in ideal air standard analysis. In this paper, the effects of heat transfer on the net work output and the indicated thermal efficiency of an air standard Dual cycle are analyzed. Heat transfer from the unburned mixture to the cylinder walls has a negligible effect on the performance for the compression process. Additionally, the heat transfer rates to the cylinder walls during combustion are the highest and extremely important. Therefore, we assume that the compression and power processes proceed instantaneously so that they are reversible adiabatics, and the heat losses during the heat rejection process can be neglected. The heat loss through the cylinder wall is assumed to occur only during combustion and is further assumed to be proportional to the average temperature of both the working fluid and the cylinder wall. The results show that the net work output versus efficiency characteristics and the maximum net work output and the corresponding efficiency bounds are strongly influenced by the magnitude of the heat transfer. Higher heat transfer to the combustion chamber walls lowers the peak temperature and pressure and reduces the work per cycle and the efficiency. The effects of other parameters, in conjunction with the heat transfer, including combustion constants, cut-off ratio and intake air temperature, are also reported. The results are of importance to provide good guidance for the performance evaluation and improvement of practical Diesel engines

We compute all the tree-level contributions to the Wilson coefficients of the dimension-six Standard-Model effective theory in ultraviolet completions with general scalar, spinor and vector field content and arbitrary interactions. No assumption about the renormalizability of the high-energy theory is made. This provides a complete ultraviolet/infrared dictionary at the classical level, which can be used to study the low-energy implications of any model of interest, and also to look for explicit completions consistent with low-energy data.

The one-loop renormalization group equations for the Standard Model (SM) Effective Field Theory (EFT) including dimension-six operators are calculated. The complete 2499 × 2499 one-loop anomalous dimension matrix of the d=6 Lagrangian is obtained, as well as the contribution of d=6 operators to the running of the parameters of the renormalizable SM Lagrangian. The presence of higher-dimension operators has implications for the flavor problem of the SM. An approximate holomorphy of the one-loop anomalous dimension matrix is found, even though the SM EFT is not a supersymmetric theory.

Background In order to gain insight into neuroprotective effects of ECa 233, a standardized extract of Centella asiatica, previously demonstrated in animal models of memory impairment induced by transient global ischemia or intracerebroventricular injection of β-amyloid, the effect of ECa 233 on neurite outgrowth of human IMR-32 neuroblastoma cell line was investigated. Methods Cells were seeded and incubated with various concentrations of ECa 233. Morphometric analysis was carried out by a measurement of the longest neurite growth of cells at 24 and 48 h. Contributing signaling pathways possibly involved were subsequently elucidated by western blot analysis. Results While ECa 233 had only limited effects on cell viability, it significantly enhanced neurite outgrowth of IMR-32 cells at the concentrations of 1–100 μg/ml. Western blot analysis revealed that ECa 233 significantly upregulated the level of activated ERK1/2 and Akt of the treated cells suggesting their involvement in the neuritogenic effect observed, which was subsequently verified by the finding that an addition of their respective inhibitors could reverse the effect of ECa 233 on these cells. Conclusions The present study clearly demonstrated neurite outgrowth promoting activity of ECa 233. ERK1/2 and Akt signaling pathways seemed to account for the neurotrophic effect observed. In conjunction with in vivo neuroprotective effect of ECa 233 previously reported, the results obtained support further development of ECa 233 for clinical use in neuronal injury or neurodegenerative diseases. PMID:23915016

Full Text Available Background: Wolbachia are common intracellular bacteria that infect different groups of arthropods including mos­quitoes. These bacteria modify host biology and may induce feminization, parthenogenesis, male killing and cyto­plasmic incompatibility (CI. Recently Wolbachia is being nominated as a bio-agent and paratransgenic candidate to control mosquito borne diseases.Methods: Here we report the results of a survey for presence, frequency, and phylogenetic congruence of these en­dosymbiont bacteria in Culex pipiens populations in Northern, Central, and Southern parts of Iran using nested-PCR amplification of wsp gene.Results: Wolbachia DNA were found in 227 (87.3% out of 260 wild-caught mosquitoes. The rate of infection in adult females ranged from 61.5% to 100%, while in males were from 80% to 100%. The Blast search and phyloge­netic analysis of the wsp gene sequence revealed that the Wolbachia strain from Iranian Cx. pipiens was identical to the Wolbachia strains of supergroup B previously reported in members of the Cx. pipiens complex. They had also identical sequence homology with the Wolbachia strains from a group of distinct arthropods including lepidopteran, wasps, flies, damselfly, thrips, and mites from remote geographical areas of the world.Conclusion: It is suggested that Wolbachia strains horizontally transfer between unrelated host organisms over evo­lutionary time. Also results of this study indicates that Wolbachia infections were highly prevalent infecting all Cx. pipiens populations throughout the country, however further study needs to define Wolbachia inter-population repro­ductive incompatibility pattern and its usefulness as a bio-agent control measure.

Full Text Available Molecular phylogenies and estimates of divergence times within the sister genera Macaranga and Mallotus were estimated using Bayesian relaxed clock analyses of two generic data sets, one per genus. Both data sets were based on different molecular markers and largely different samples. Per genus three calibration points were utilised. The basal calibration point (crown node of all taxa used was taken from literature and used for both taxa. The other three calibrations were based on fossils of which two were used per genus. We compared patterns of dispersal and diversification in Macaranga and Mallotus using ancestral area reconstruction in RASP (S-DIVA option and contrasted our results with biogeographical and geological records to assess accuracy of inferred age estimates. A check of the fossil calibration point showed that the Japanese fossil, used for dating the divergence of Mallotus, probably had to be attached to a lower node, the stem node of all pioneer species, but even then the divergence time was still younger than the estimated age of the fossil. The African (only used in the Macaranga data set and New Zealand fossils (used for both genera seemed reliably placed. Our results are in line with existing geological data and the presence of stepping stones that provided dispersal pathways from Borneo to New Guinea-Australia, from Borneo to mainland Asia and additionally at least once to Africa and Madagascar via land and back to India via Indian Ocean island chains. The two genera show congruence in dispersal patterns, which corroborate divergence time estimates, although the overall mode and tempo of dispersal and diversification differ significantly as shown by distribution patterns of extant species.

We aggregated data on butterfly-host plant associations from existing sources in order to address the following questions: (1) is there a general correlation between host diversity and butterfly species richness?, (2) has the evolution of host plant use followed consistent patterns across butterfly lineages?, (3) what is the common ancestral host plant for all butterfly lineages? The compilation included 44,148 records from 5,152 butterfly species (28.6% of worldwide species of Papilionoidea) and 1,193 genera (66.3%). The overwhelming majority of butterflies use angiosperms as host plants. Fabales is used by most species (1,007 spp.) from all seven butterfly families and most subfamilies, Poales is the second most frequently used order, but is mostly restricted to two species-rich subfamilies: Hesperiinae (56.5% of all Hesperiidae), and Satyrinae (42.6% of all Nymphalidae). We found a significant and strong correlation between host plant diversity and butterfly species richness. A global test for congruence (Parafit test) was sensitive to uncertainty in the butterfly cladogram, and suggests a mixed system with congruent associations between Papilionidae and magnoliids, Hesperiidae and monocots, and the remaining subfamilies with the eudicots (fabids and malvids), but also numerous random associations. The congruent associations are also recovered as the most probable ancestral states in each node using maximum likelihood methods. The shift from basal groups to eudicots appears to be more likely than the other way around, with the only exception being a Satyrine-clade within the Nymphalidae that feed on monocots. Our analysis contributes to the visualization of the complex pattern of interactions at superfamily level and provides a context to discuss the timing of changes in host plant utilization that might have promoted diversification in some butterfly lineages. PMID:23717448

Full Text Available We aggregated data on butterfly-host plant associations from existing sources in order to address the following questions: (1 is there a general correlation between host diversity and butterfly species richness?, (2 has the evolution of host plant use followed consistent patterns across butterfly lineages?, (3 what is the common ancestral host plant for all butterfly lineages? The compilation included 44,148 records from 5,152 butterfly species (28.6% of worldwide species of Papilionoidea and 1,193 genera (66.3%. The overwhelming majority of butterflies use angiosperms as host plants. Fabales is used by most species (1,007 spp. from all seven butterfly families and most subfamilies, Poales is the second most frequently used order, but is mostly restricted to two species-rich subfamilies: Hesperiinae (56.5% of all Hesperiidae, and Satyrinae (42.6% of all Nymphalidae. We found a significant and strong correlation between host plant diversity and butterfly species richness. A global test for congruence (Parafit test was sensitive to uncertainty in the butterfly cladogram, and suggests a mixed system with congruent associations between Papilionidae and magnoliids, Hesperiidae and monocots, and the remaining subfamilies with the eudicots (fabids and malvids, but also numerous random associations. The congruent associations are also recovered as the most probable ancestral states in each node using maximum likelihood methods. The shift from basal groups to eudicots appears to be more likely than the other way around, with the only exception being a Satyrine-clade within the Nymphalidae that feed on monocots. Our analysis contributes to the visualization of the complex pattern of interactions at superfamily level and provides a context to discuss the timing of changes in host plant utilization that might have promoted diversification in some butterfly lineages.

Full Text Available Abstract Background Placebo effects are mediated by expectancy, which is highly influenced by psychosocial factors of a treatment context. These factors are difficult to standardize. Furthermore, dedicated placebo research often necessitates single-blind deceptive designs where biases are easily introduced. We propose a study protocol employing a virtual experimenter – a computer program designed to deliver treatment and instructions – for the purpose of standardization and reduction of biases when investigating placebo effects. Methods To evaluate the virtual experimenter’s efficacy in inducing placebo effects via expectancy manipulation, we suggest a partially blinded, deceptive design with a baseline/retest pain protocol (hand immersions in hot water bath. Between immersions, participants will receive an (actually inert medication. Instructions pertaining to the medication will be delivered by one of three metaphors: The virtual experimenter, a human experimenter, and an audio/text presentation (predictor “Metaphor”. The second predictor includes falsely informing participants that the medication is an effective pain killer, or correctly informing them that it is, in fact, inert (predictor “Instruction”. Analysis will be performed with hierarchical linear modelling, with a sample size of N = 50. Results from two pilot studies are presented that indicate the viability of the pain protocol (N = 33, and of the virtual experimenter software and placebo manipulation (N = 48. Discussion It will be challenging to establish full comparability between all metaphors used for instruction delivery, and to account for participant differences in acceptance of their virtual interaction partner. Once established, the presence of placebo effects would suggest that the virtual experimenter exhibits sufficient cues to be perceived as a social agent. He could consequently provide a convenient platform to investigate effects of

Full Text Available Natural sleep aids are becoming more popular due to the widespread occurrence of sleep disorders. The objective of this study was to assess the sleep-promoting effects of rice bran—a product that is considered as a functional ingredient. To evaluate the sleep-promoting effects of a standardized rice bran supplement (RBS, we employed a pentobarbital-induced sleep test and conducted analyses of sleep architecture. In addition, the effect of RBS on a caffeine-induced sleep disturbance was investigated. Oral administration of RBS (500 and 1000 mg/kg produced a significant decrease in sleep latency and increase in sleep duration in pentobarbital-induced sleep in mice. Moreover, both RBS (1000 mg/kg and doxepin hydrochloride (histamine H1 receptor antagonist, 30 mg/kg counteracted a caffeine-induced sleep disturbance in mice. In terms of sleep phases, RBS (500 mg/kg promoted non-rapid eye movement sleep for the first 3 h following its administration. Lastly, we unveiled a possible mechanism for RBS action as the hypnotic effect of RBS was blocked by a histamine H1 receptor agonist. The present study revealed sleep-promoting effects of RBS using various animal assays. Such effects seem to be mediated through the histaminergic system. Our findings suggest that RBS may be a promising natural aid for relieving sleep problems.

Natural sleep aids are becoming more popular due to the widespread occurrence of sleep disorders. The objective of this study was to assess the sleep-promoting effects of rice bran-a product that is considered as a functional ingredient. To evaluate the sleep-promoting effects of a standardized rice bran supplement (RBS), we employed a pentobarbital-induced sleep test and conducted analyses of sleep architecture. In addition, the effect of RBS on a caffeine-induced sleep disturbance was investigated. Oral administration of RBS (500 and 1000 mg/kg) produced a significant decrease in sleep latency and increase in sleep duration in pentobarbital-induced sleep in mice. Moreover, both RBS (1000 mg/kg) and doxepin hydrochloride (histamine H₁ receptor antagonist, 30 mg/kg) counteracted a caffeine-induced sleep disturbance in mice. In terms of sleep phases, RBS (500 mg/kg) promoted non-rapid eye movement sleep for the first 3 h following its administration. Lastly, we unveiled a possible mechanism for RBS action as the hypnotic effect of RBS was blocked by a histamine H₁ receptor agonist. The present study revealed sleep-promoting effects of RBS using various animal assays. Such effects seem to be mediated through the histaminergic system. Our findings suggest that RBS may be a promising natural aid for relieving sleep problems.

BACKGROUND: Tobacco smoking is more prevalent among the elderly than among the young, and the elderly also have the most frequent contact with the health care system. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Gold Standard Program, which is an intensive six-week smoking cessa...... late for health professionals to recommend and educate patients about smoking cessation programs even if they are over 60 years of age.......BACKGROUND: Tobacco smoking is more prevalent among the elderly than among the young, and the elderly also have the most frequent contact with the health care system. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Gold Standard Program, which is an intensive six-week smoking...... recommendation for smoking cessation (OR 1.12), being compliant with program (OR 1.35) and being abstinent at end of course (OR 13.3). CONCLUSIONS: Participants over the age of 60 years had significantly higher continuous abstinence rates after six months than the participants less than 60 years. It is never too...

Working in the framework of the Standard Model effective field theory, we study chirality-flipping couplings of the top quark to Higgs and gauge bosons. We discuss in detail the renormalization-group evolution to lower energies and investigate direct and indirect contributions to high- and low-energy C P -conserving and C P -violating observables. Our analysis includes constraints from collider observables, precision electroweak tests, flavor physics, and electric dipole moments. We find that indirect probes are competitive or dominant for both C P -even and C P -odd observables, even after accounting for uncertainties associated with hadronic and nuclear matrix elements, illustrating the importance of including operator mixing in constraining the Standard Model effective field theory. We also study scenarios where multiple anomalous top couplings are generated at the high scale, showing that while the bounds on individual couplings relax, strong correlations among couplings survive. Finally, we find that enforcing minimal flavor violation does not significantly affect the bounds on the top couplings.

The purpose of this laboratory study was to investigate the effects of surface electromyography (EMG)- and mechanomyography (MMG)-based audio and visual biofeedback during computer work. Standardized computer work was performed for 3 min with/without time constraint and biofeedback in a randomize...... alternative to EMG in ergonomics. A lowering of the trapezius muscle activity may contribute to diminish the risk of work related musculoskeletal disorders development.......The purpose of this laboratory study was to investigate the effects of surface electromyography (EMG)- and mechanomyography (MMG)-based audio and visual biofeedback during computer work. Standardized computer work was performed for 3 min with/without time constraint and biofeedback in a randomized......) values as well as the work performance in terms of number of completed graph/mouse clicks/errors, the rating of perceived exertion (RPE) and the usefulness of the biofeedback were assessed. The duration of muscle activity above the threshold was significantly lower with MMG compared with EMG as source...

Full Text Available To investigate the effects of two code mixing conventions on L2 vocabulary recognition and recall, 87 female Iranian lower intermediate EFL learners were divided into three groups. One group received vocabulary instruction through standard code mixing in which an L1 lexical item was incorporated within an L2 context; another received the same instruction through reversed code mixing, which involved the use of an L2 lexical item within an L1 context. The third group was a comparison group that was presented with the same words in English sentences without any code mixing. At the end of the treatment, multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blanks vocabulary tests were administered to all three groups. The gathered data were analyzed using two separate one-way ANOVA procedures. Results indicated that code mixing conventions had no significant effect on the learners' vocabulary recognition. As to vocabulary production, the comparison group outperformed the standard code mixing group in a statistically significant way. The findings of the present study may have implications for learners, teachers, and syllabus designers.

We consider an effective field theory for a gauge singlet Dirac dark matter (DM) particle interacting with the Standard Model (SM) fields via effective operators suppressed by the scale $\\Lambda \\gtrsim 1$ TeV. We perform a systematic analysis of the leading loop contributions to spin-independent (SI) DM--nucleon scattering using renormalization group evolution between $\\Lambda$ and the low-energy scale probed by direct detection experiments. We find that electroweak interactions induce operator mixings such that operators that are naively velocity-suppressed and spin-dependent can actually contribute to SI scattering. This allows us to put novel constraints on Wilson coefficients that were so far poorly bounded by direct detection. Constraints from current searches are comparable to LHC bounds, and will significantly improve in the near future. Interestingly, the loop contribution we find is maximally isospin violating even if the underlying theory is isospin conserving.

The 1977 Recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection stated that the commission believes that if man is adequately protected from radiation, other organisms are also likely to be sufficiently protected. The present report examines this statement by considering the effects of ionizing radiation on animals and plants in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The conclusions are that chronic dose rates of IMGy.d -1 or less are unlikely to cause measurable deleterious effects in terrestrial populations, and that in the aquatic environment limiting chronic dose rates to 10MGy.d -1 to the maximally exposed individuals would provide adequate protection for the population. Thus specific radiation protection standards for non-human organisms are not needed. 193 refs, 2 figs, 7 tabs

Discusses the functions of Kenya Bureau of Standards as standards development, testing,metrology,implementation of standards in commerce and industry, accredit ion,certification,inspection of imports and exports,training and education in Metrology,standards,testing and quality assurance

This study examined the encoding specificity principle in relation to traditional and computer-based note taking and assessment formats in higher education. Students (N = 79) took lecture notes either by hand (n = 40) or by computer (n = 39) and then completed either a computer or a paper-based assessment. When note taking and assessment formats were congruent, students scored significantly higher on the assessment when compared to students whose note taking and assessment format were incongr...

This study examined the encoding specificity principle in relation to traditional and computer-based note taking and assessment formats in higher education. Students (N = 79) took lecture notes either by hand (n = 40) or by computer (n = 39) and then completed either a computer or a paper-based assessment. When note taking and assessment formats…

Results of the study, designed to determine if student and parent attitudes concerning religion, politics, sexual behavior, student self government, social behavior, and living regulations change significantly after the student has attended a university, show that student attitude change are increasingly incongruent with parents' except for living…

In the current study, we explored the influence of synesthesia on memory for word lists. We tested 10 grapheme-color synesthetes who reported an experience of color when reading letters or words. We replicated a previous finding that memory is compromised when synesthetic color is incongruent with perceptual color. Beyond this, we found that,…

In this study, 4-month-old infants' and adults' spontaneous preferences for emotional and neutral displays with direct and averted gaze are investigated using visual preference paradigms. Specifically, by presenting two approach-oriented emotions (happiness and anger) and two avoidance-oriented emotions (fear and sadness), we asked whether the…

In reaction time research, there has been an increasing appreciation that response-initiation processes are sensitive to recent experience and, in particular, the difficulty of previous trials. From this perspective, the authors propose an explanation for a perplexing property of masked priming: Although primes are not consciously identified,…

Individuals experience less interference from conflicting information following events that contain conflicting information. Recently, Jimenez, Lupianez, and Vaquero (2009) demonstrated that such adaptations to conflict occur even when the source of conflict arises from implicit knowledge of sequences. There is accumulating evidence that momentary…

The aim of this study was to investigate dental students' long-term retention of clinical communication skills learned in a second-year standardized patient simulation at one U.S. dental school. Retention was measured by students' performance with an actual patient during their fourth year. The high-fidelity simulation exercise focused on clinical communication skills took place during the spring term of the students' second year. The effect of the simulation was measured by comparing the fourth-year clinical performance of two groups: those who had participated in the simulation (intervention group; Class of 2016) and those who had not (no intervention/control group; Class of 2015). In the no intervention group, all 47 students participated; in the intervention group, 58 of 59 students participated. Both instructor assessments and students' self-assessments were used to evaluate the effectiveness of key patient interaction principles as well as comprehensive presentation of multiple treatment options. The results showed that students in the intervention group more frequently included cost during their treatment option presentation than did students in the no intervention group. The instructor ratings showed that the intervention group included all key treatment option components except duration more frequently than did the no intervention group. However, the simulation experience did not result in significantly more effective student-patient clinical communication on any of the items measured. This study presents limited evidence of the effectiveness of a standardized patient simulation to improve dental students' long-term clinical communication skills with respect to thorough presentation of treatment options to a patient.

Full Text Available Taking this into consideration of diver cultural norms in Malaysian workplace, the propose model explores Malaysia culture and identity with a backdrop of the pushes and pulls of ethnic diversity in a Malaysia. The model seeks to understand relational norm congruence based on multiethnic in Malaysia that will be enable us to identify Malaysia cultural and identity. This is in line with recent call by various interest groups in Malaysia to focus more on model designs that capture contextual and cultural factors that influences Malaysia culture and identity.

What does it mean to be in or out of touch with oneself? Using undergraduate samples we tested a new conception and measure of self-congruence, based on the social character that people inhabit in their interpersonal lives. The measure quantifies whether the Big Five traits of a person's typical social character are consistent with the traits of his/her unguarded self. Study 1 (N = 135) showed that the non-discrepant character measure predicted subjective well-being (SWB), independently of th...

Full Text Available Measuring health outcomes includes risk and uncertainty. Quality of life assessment in health care has two main properties one is they are personal, the other is they are reflecting personal preferences. Because of patient preferences includes risk and uncertainty standard gambling theory used which is one of the quantitative techniques for assessment of patient preferences. Framing effect which is based on social psychology, shows that positive and negative framed information effects decision making. For this reason in this study we aim to discuss the role of framing effect on quality of life assessments when standart gambling theory was used. Results of this study show that compare to traditional framing effect, medical framework reveal opposite results. Patients show risk seeking behavior in positive framework and they show risk aversion behaviour in negative framework. We think that the results of this study provides useful information for understanding of how framing make a bias in asssessment of patient preferences. [TAF Prev Med Bull 2015; 14(4.000: 346-352

We study two aspects of higher dimensional operators in standard model effective field theory. We first introduce a perturbative power counting rule for the entries in the anomalous dimension matrix of operators with equal mass dimension. The power counting is determined by the number of loops and the difference of the indices of the two operators involved, which in turn is defined by assuming that all terms in the standard model Lagrangian have an equal perturbative power. Then we show that the operators with the lowest index are unique at each mass dimension d, i.e., (H † H) d/2 for even d ≥ 4, and (LT∈ H)C(LT∈ H) T (H † H)(d-5)/2 for odd d ≥ 5. Here H, L are the Higgs and lepton doublet, and ∈, C the antisymmetric matrix of rank two and the charge conjugation matrix, respectively. The renormalization group running of these operators can be studied separately from other operators of equal mass dimension at the leading order in power counting. We compute their anomalous dimensions at one loop for general d and find that they are enhanced quadratically in d due to combinatorics. We also make connections with classification of operators in terms of their holomorphic and anti-holomorphic weights. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 11025525, 11575089, and by the CAS Center for Excellence in Particle Physics (CCEPP)

Full Text Available Although globally there is a change in the trend of epidemiology from infectious diseases to chronic diseases, the prevalence and incidence of infectious diseases as well as MMR (Maternal Mortality Rate and IMR (infant mortality rate in Indonesia is still high. In year 2000, Faculty of Nursing of the Universitas Padjadjaran in collaboration with Hasan Sadikin Hospital built a model of treatment room, which was affiliated with obstetric gynecology room for improving integrated quality of health care services and education. The model built in this room aimed to : 1 Improve the quality of health care service; 2 to develop the student’s experiences with patients; 3 Provide quality nurse education to support students; 4 encourage students to improve the results of clinical prctice. The objective of process evaluation in this study was to give an insight to an appropriate model for maternity nursing service. This results showed on the one hand , there are some records not yet achieved an ideal standard , lack of effectiveness and efficiency of care delivery, namely: 1 the ratio of midwives and patients are not ideal ; 2 No one consultant obstetrician gynecologist and one doctor for every room . As well as challenges to sustainability care that meets the standards of maternity care. Conclusion: this study recommends to take a comprehensive strategic planning for improving nursing and midwifery services that involve all relevant stakeholders in the government, civil society, service delivery, education, and professional organizations.

The aim of the study was to review our experience with single-incision laparoscopic surgery (SILS) and to compare costs and operative time to standard laparoscopic surgery (SLS). A prospectively collected database of operative times and costs was analysed for the years 2008-2011. SILS cases were compared to standard laparoscopy on a procedure-matched basis. Patient demographics, on-table time and consumable costs were collated. Descriptive statistics and Mann-Whitney U-test were utilized with SPSS for windows. Analysis of the data demonstrate that neither consumable costs nor operative time were significantly different in each group. Comparing operative costs, SILS appendicectomy, nephrectomy/heminephrectomy, and ovarian cystectomy/oophorectomy showed cost benefit over SLS (£397 versus £467; £942 versus £1127; £394 versus £495). A trend toward higher cost for SILS Palomo procedure is noted (£734 versus £400). Operative time for SILS appendicectomy, nephrectomy/heminephrectomy, and Palomo was lower compared to SLS (60 versus 103 minutes[mins.]; 130 versus 60 mins.; 60 versus 80 mins.). In conclusion, SILS appears to be cost-effective for the common pediatric surgical operations. There is no significant difference in operating time in this series, but small sample size is a limiting factor. Studies with larger numbers will be necessary to validate these initial observations.

We perform a parameter fit in the standard model effective field theory (SMEFT) with an emphasis on using regularized linear regression to tackle the issue of the large number of parameters in the SMEFT. In regularized linear regression, a positive definite function of the parameters of interest is added to the usual cost function. A cross-validation is performed to try to determine the optimal value of the regularization parameter to use, but it selects the standard model (SM) as the best model to explain the measurements. Nevertheless as proof of principle of this technique we apply it to fitting Higgs boson signal strengths in SMEFT, including the latest Run-2 results. Results are presented in terms of the eigensystem of the covariance matrix of the least squares estimators as it has a degree model-independent to it. We find several results in this initial work: the SMEFT predicts the total width of the Higgs boson to be consistent with the SM prediction; the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the LHC are currently sensitive to non-resonant double Higgs boson production. Constraints are derived on the viable parameter space for electroweak baryogenesis in the SMEFT, reinforcing the notion that a first order phase transition requires fairly low-scale beyond the SM physics. Finally, we study which future experimental measurements would give the most improvement on the global constraints on the Higgs sector of the SMEFT.

Training in meditation has been shown to affect functioning of several attentional subsystems, most prominently conflict monitoring, and to some extent orienting. These previous findings described the effects of cueing and manipulating stimulus congruency on response times and accuracies. However,

Free and open source software and data facilitate novel research by allowing geoscientists to quickly and easily bring together disparate data that have been independently collected for many different purposes. The Earth-Base project brings together several datasets using a common space-time framework that is managed and analyzed using open source software. Earth-Base currently draws on stratigraphic, paleontologic, tectonic, geodynamic, seismic, botanical, hydrologic and cartographic data. Furthermore, Earth-Base is powered by RESTful data services operating on top of PostgreSQL and MySQL databases and the R programming environment, making much of the functionality accessible to third-parties even though the detailed data schemas are unknown to them. We demonstrate the scientific potential of Earth-Base and other FOSS by comparing the stated age of fossil collections to the age of the bedrock upon which they are geolocated. This analysis makes use of web services for the Paleobiology Database (PaleoDB), Macrostrat, the 2005 Geologic Map of North America (Garrity et al. 2009) and geologic maps of the conterminous United States. This analysis is a way to quickly assess the accuracy of temporal and spatial congruence of the paleontologic and geologic map datasets. We find that 56.1% of the 52,593 PaleoDB collections have temporally consistent ages with the bedrock upon which they are located based on the Geologic Map of North America. Surprisingly, fossil collections within the conterminous United States are more consistently located on bedrock with congruent geological ages, even though the USA maps are spatially and temporally more precise. Approximately 57% of the 37,344 PaleoDB collections in the USA are located on similarly aged geologic map units. Increased accuracy is attributed to the lumping of Pliocene and Quaternary geologic map units along the Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains in the Geologic Map of North America. The abundant Pliocene fossil collections

This study examined parent-child attitudes on value of specific types and intensities of physical activity, which may explain gender differences in child activity, and evaluated physical activity as a mechanism to reduce time spent in sedentary behaviors. A community sample of 681 parents and 433 children (mean age 9.9 years) reported attitudes on importance of vigorous and moderate intensity team and individually performed sports/activities, as well as household chores. Separate structural models (LISREL 8.7) for girls and boys tested whether parental attitudes were related to child TV and computer via child attitudes, sport team participation, and physical activity, controlling for demographic factors. Child 7-day physical activity, sport teams, weekly TV, computer. Parent-child attitude congruence was more prevalent among boys, and attitudes varied by ethnicity, parent education, and number of children. Positive parent-child attitudes for vigorous team sports were related to increased team participation and physical activity, as well as reduced TV and computer in boys and girls. Value of moderate intensity household chores, such as cleaning house and doing laundry, was related to decreased team participation and increased TV in boys. Only organized team sports, not general physical activity, was related to reduced TV and computer. Results support parents' role in socializing children's achievement task values, affecting child activity by transferring specific attitudes. Value of vigorous intensity sports provided the most benefits to activity and reduction of sedentary behavior, while valuing household chores had unexpected negative effects.

in replicated lines of inbred and outbred Drosophila melanogaster at stressful low, benign and stressful high temperatures. The lowest measurements of metabolic rate in our study are always associated with the low activity period of the diurnal cycle and these measurements therefore serve as good estimates...... of standard metabolic rate. Due to the potentially added costs of genetic stress in inbred lines we hypothesized that inbred individuals have increased metabolic rate compared to outbred controls and that this is more pronounced at stressful temperatures due to synergistic inbreeding by environment...... interactions. Contrary to our hypothesis we found no significant difference in metabolic rate between inbred and outbred lines and no interaction between inbreeding and temperature. Inbreeding however effected the variance; the variance in metabolic rate was higher between the inbred lines compared...

Ridgetail white prawn ( Exopalaemon carinicauda) are of significant economic importance in China where they are widely cultured. However, there is little information on the basic biology of this species. We evaluated the effect of temperature (16, 19, 22, 25, 28, 31, and 34°C) on the standard metabolic rates (SMRs) of juvenile and adult E. carinicauda in the laboratory under static conditions. The oxygen consumption rate (OCR), ammonia-N excretion rate (AER), and atomic ratio of oxygen consumed to nitrogen consumed (O:N ratio) of juvenile and adult E. carinicauda were significantly influenced by temperature ( P 0.05). The O:N ratio in juveniles was significantly higher than that in the adults over the entire temperature range ( P values. Results from the present study may be used to guide pond culture production of E. carinicauda.

This chapter reports on measurements of effective thermal conductivity performed on a series of specimens of glass-fiber board and glass-fiber blanket. Explains that measurements of thermal conductivity were conducted as a function of temperature from 85 to 360 K, of temperature difference with T=10 to 100 K, of bulk density from 11 to 148 kg/m 3 and for nitrogen, argon, and helium inter-fiber fill gases at pressures from atmospheric to high vacuum. Analyzes and compares results with values from the published literature and National Bureau of Standards (NBS) certification data for similar material. Gives polynomial expressions for the functional relation between conductivity, temperature, and density for board and for blanket

This paper documents an investigation into reports which have indicated that exposure to VHF and UHF band radiation has adverse effects on the frequency stability of HP cesium beam frequency standards...

ISO 9001 is the international standard which specifies requirements for quality management systems (QMS). Organisations implement requirements of the standard to demonstrate the ability to consistently provide products and services that meet customer and regulatory requirements. It is the most popular standard of the ISO 9000 series and the only standard in the series to which organisations can certify. The new version of ISO 9001 was released in September 2015 and changes made in ISO 900...

Full Text Available The present research work aims to analyse the effect that the disaggregated developmental aid has had on the health status and the standard of living in the urban sector after the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs were established. Infant Mortality and Improved sanitation facilities are taken as indicators for health status and urbanisation respectively; and the relationship between disaggregated health aid with Infant Mortality Rate (IMR and disaggregated aid for water and sanitation with improved sanitation facilities was analysed for the years from 2002–2012 using data from India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam and Lao PDR of Southeast Asia through the dynamic panel data modelling using the Generalized Methods of Moments (GMMs. Findings suggest that the developmental aid has not been effective in both the health sector and urbanisation sector. Moreover, improvement in health status has been growth driven. With the advent of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs; the most important thing to ensure is that the disbursed aid is used effectively to achieve the very purposes it is being given for and to reduce the gaps in various classes of developing countries in the region.

We assume that New Physics effects are parametrized within the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT) written in a complete basis of gauge invariant operators up to dimension 6, commonly referred to as "Warsaw basis". We discuss all steps necessary to obtain a consistent transition to the spontaneously broken theory and several other important aspects, including the BRST-invariance of the SMEFT action for linear R ξ -gauges. The final theory is expressed in a basis characterized by SM-like propagators for all physical and unphysical fields. The effect of the non-renormalizable operators appears explicitly in triple or higher multiplicity vertices. In this mass basis we derive the complete set of Feynman rules, without resorting to any simplifying assumptions such as baryon-, lepton-number or CP conservation. As it turns out, for most SMEFT vertices the expressions are reasonably short, with a noticeable exception of those involving 4, 5 and 6 gluons. We have also supplemented our set of Feynman rules, given in an appendix here, with a publicly available Mathematica code working with the FeynRules package and producing output which can be integrated with other symbolic algebra or numerical codes for automatic SMEFT amplitude calculations.

The article describes the benefits of and required process and recommendations for implementing the standardization of training in the nuclear power industry in the United States and abroad. Current Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) enable training standardization in the nuclear power industry. The delivery of training through the Internet, Intranet and video over IP will facilitate this standardization and bring multiple benefits to the nuclear power industry worldwide. As the amount of available qualified and experienced professionals decreases because of retirements and fewer nuclear engineering institutions, standardized training will help increase the number of available professionals in the industry. Technology will make it possible to use the experience of retired professionals who may be interested in working part-time from a remote location. Well-planned standardized training will prevent a fragmented approach among utilities, and it will save the industry considerable resources in the long run. It will also ensure cost-effective and safe nuclear power plant operation

Difference between stand volume decrease in standard and existing clearing limit in silt soil was significantly more than that in silt clay and clay soils. The difference between standard and existing clearing limit as well as the difference between standard and existing trees stock growth in different slope classes and soil ...

Full Text Available A basic aim of ecology is to understand the determinants of organismal distribution, the niche concept and species distribution models providing key frameworks to approach the problem. As temperature is one of the most important factors affecting species distribution, the estimation of thermal limits is crucially important for inferring range constraints. It is expectable that thermal physiology data derived from laboratory experiments and species' occurrences may express different aspects of the species' niche. However, there is no study systematically testing this prediction in a given taxonomic group while controlling by potential phylogenetic inertia. We estimate the thermal niches of twelve Palaearctic diving beetles species using physiological data derived from experimental analyses in order to examine the extent to which these coincided with those estimated from distribution models based on observed occurrences. We found that thermal niche estimates derived from both approaches lack general congruence, and these results were similar before and after controlling by phylogeny. The congruence between potential distributions obtained from the two different procedures was also explored, and we found again that the percentage of agreement were not very high (~60%. We confirm that both thermal niche estimates derived from geographical and physiological data are likely to misrepresent the true range of climatic variation that these diving beetles are able to tolerate, and so these procedures could be considered as incomplete but complementary estimations of an inaccessible reality.

Full Text Available Spatial ventriloquism refers to a shift of perceptual location of a sound toward a synchronized visual stimulus. It has been assumed to reflect early processes uninfluenced by cognitive factors such as syllable congruency between audio-visual speech stimuli. Conventional experiments have examined compelling situations which typically entail pairs of single audio and visual stimuli to be bound. However, for natural environments our multisensory system is designed to select relevant sensory signals to be bound among adjacent stimuli. This selection process may depend upon higher (cognitive mechanisms. We investigated whether a cognitive factor affects the size of the ventriloquism when an additional visual stimulus is presented with a conventional audio-visual pair. Participants were presented with a set of audio-visual speech stimuli, comprising one or two bilateral movies of a person uttering single syllables together with recordings of this person speaking the same syllables. One of movies and the speech sound were combined in either congruent or incongruent ways. Participants had to identify sound locations. Results show that syllable congruency affected the size of the ventriloquism only when two movies were presented simultaneously. The selection of a relevant stimulus pair among two or more candidates can be regulated by some higher processes.

A previously reported mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) phylogeny of Crematogaster (subgenus Decacrema) ants inhabiting Macaranga myrmecophytes indicated that the partners diversified synchronously and their specific association has been maintained for 20 million years. However, the mtDNA clades did not exactly match morphological species, probably owing to introgressive hybridization among younger species. In this study, we determined the congruence between nuclear simple sequence repeat (SSR, also called microsatellite) genotyping and mtDNA phylogeny to confirm the suitability of the mtDNA phylogeny for inferring the evolutionary history of Decacrema ants. Analyses of ant samples from Lambir Hills National park, northeastern Borneo, showed overall congruence between the SSR and mtDNA groupings, indicating that mtDNA markers are useful for delimiting species, at least at the local level. We also found overall high host-plant specificity of the SSR genotypes of Decacrema ants, consistent with the specificity based on the mtDNA phylogeny. Further, we detected cryptic genetic assemblages exhibiting high specificity toward particular plant species within a single mtDNA clade. This finding, which may be evidence for rapid ecological and genetic differentiation following a host shift, is a new insight into the previously suggested long-term codiversification of Decacrema ants and Macaranga plants.

An overview is presented of the space radiation environment and its effects on electrical, electronic, and electromechanical parts. Relevant test standards and guidelines are listed. Test standards and guidelines are necessary to ensure best practices, minimize and bound systematic and random errors, and to ensure comparable results from different testers and vendors. Test standards are by their nature static but exist in a dynamic environment of advancing technology and radiation effects research. New technologies, failure mechanisms, and advancement in our understanding of known failure mechanisms drive the revision or development of test standards. Changes to standards must be weighed against their impact on cost and existing part qualifications. There must be consensus on new best practices. The complexity of some new technologies exceeds the scope of existing test standards and may require development of a guideline specific to the technology. Examples are given to illuminate the value and limitations of key radiation test standards as well as the challenges in keeping these standards up to date.

Full Text Available Young children with their hand-to-mouth activity may be exposed to contaminated soils. However few studies assessing exposure of organic compounds sequestrated in soil were realized. The present study explores the impact of different organic matters on retention of NDL-PCBs during digestive processes using commercial humic substances in a close digestive model of children: the piglet. Six artificial soils were used. One standard soil, devoid of organic matter, and five amended versions of this standard soil with either fulvic acid, humic acid, Sphagnum peat, activated carbon or a mix of Sphagnum peat and activated carbon (95∶5 (SPAC were prepared. In order to compare the different treatments, we use spiked oil and negative control animals. Forty male piglets were randomly distributed in 7 contaminated and one control groups (n = 5 for each group. During 10 days, the piglets were fed artificial soil or a corn oil spiked with 19,200 ng of Aroclor 1254 per g of dry matter (6,000 ng.g⁻¹ of NDL-PCBs to achieve an exposure dose of 1,200 ng NDL-PCBs.Kg⁻¹ of body weight per day. NDL-PCBs in adipose tissue were analyzed by GC-MS. Fulvic acid reduced slightly the bioavailability of NDL-PCBs compared to oil. Humic acid and Sphagnum peat reduced it significantly higher whereas activated carbon reduced the most. Piglets exposed to soil containing both activated carbon and Shagnum peat exhibited a lower reduction than soil with only activated carbon. Therefore, treatment groups are ordered by decreasing value of relative bioavailability as following: oil ≥ fulvic acid>Sphagnum peat ≥ Sphagnum peat and activated carbon ≥ Humic acid>>activated carbon. This suggests competition between Sphagnum peat and activated carbon. The present study highlights that quality of organic matter does have a significant effect on bioavailability of sequestrated organic compounds.

Descriptions of subtle palpatory perceptions in osteopathic cranial palpation can be misperceived by students. Thus, adequate dissemination and replication of cranial palpatory techniques is challenging for osteopathy students. To evaluate the effects of standardized protocol training on cranial palpation of the frontomalar suture. Fourth-year osteopathy students from the European Center for Osteopathic Higher Education in Paris, France, were recruited and randomly divided into three groups. Students in the study group received instruction in a standardized protocol for palpatory assessment of the frontomalar suture; students in the control group did not receive instruction; and the remaining students acted as subjects. A specialized force sensor was placed on the skin covering the left frontomalar suture of each subject. Student practitioners were instructed to palpate subjects' left frontomalar suture using the customary pressure described for evaluation and treatment of somatic dysfunction of the cranium. Pressure measurements were exported to a laptop computer. Twelve students were in each group. Student practitioners' palpation pressures ranged from 0.19 to 1.12 N/cm(2), while mean palpation pressures for each test ranged from 0.27 to 0.98 N/cm(2). The mean (SD) palpation pressure in the study group and control group was 0.55 N/cm(2) (0.16 N/cm(2)) and 0.53 N/cm(2) (0.15 N/cm(2)), respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in mean palpation pressures used by the two groups. Substantial variation in test performance was noted in both groups. Palpatory training was ineffective in improving student practitioners' precision of cranial palpation performance. Quantitative feedback of palpation pressures during training may improve outcomes. To our knowledge, data on palpation pressures used during osteopathic cranial manipulation have not been reported previously in the medical literature.

In this paper, we make a close and systematic research on Bhabha scattering in the electroweak unification of the standard model (SM). In concrete research methods we make the quantum field theory of perturbation theory in a new computing mode -renormalization chain propagation theory, and do an application to the Bhabha scattering calculation research. In SM, in order to consider complete electrical weak effect about Bhabha scattering internal process, we seek out the complex renormalization mixing-loop chain propagators constituted by photon y and intermediate boson Z 0 , and then calculate the Bhabha scattering cross section about this kind of propagator by transfer complete electrical weak reaction. Within the observed errors, the calculation results are in good agreement with the experimental values. Also, the main research results not only confirm the action of the particle reaction accuracy by SM theory for describing the electrical weak effect; but also suggests the SM theory may be a per ect theory and that the theory prophecy's Higgs 'mysterious particles' (which is of particular concern in the field of academic) have the large possibility to be eventually found. (authors)

Full Text Available Cigarette draw resistance and filter pressure drop (PD are both major physical parameters for the tobacco industry. Therefore these parameters must be measured reliably. For these measurements, specific equipment calibrated with PD transfer standards is used. Each transfer standard must have a known and stable PD value, such standards usually being composed of several capillary tubes associated in parallel. However, PD values are modified by ambient conditions during calibration of such standards, i.e. by temperature and relative humidity (RH of air, and atmospheric pressure. In order to reduce the influence of these ambient factors, a simplified model was developed for compensating the effects of ambient conditions on the calibration of multi-capillary PD standards.

Full Text Available The GAEC standard retain terraces of cross compliance prohibits farmers the elimination of existing terraces, with the aim to ensure the protection of soil from erosion. In the Italian literature there are not field studies to quantify the effects of the elimination or degradation of terraces on soil erosion. Therefore, the modeling approach was chosen and applied in a scenario analysis to evaluate increasing levels of degradation of stone wall terraces. The study was conducted on two sample areas: Lamole (700.8 ha, Tuscany and Costaviola (764.73 ha, Calabria with contrasting landscapes. The Universal Soil Loss Equation model (USLE was applied in the comparative assessment of the soil erosion risk (Mg . ha-1 . yr-1, by simulating five increasing intensity of terrace degradation, respectively: conserved partially damaged, very damaged, partially removed, removed, each of which corresponding to different values of the indexes of verification in case of infringement to GAEC standard provided for by the AGEA rules which have come into force since December 2009 (Agency for Agricultural Payments. To growing intensity of degradation, a progressive loss of efficacy of terraces was attributed by increasing the values of the LS factor (length and slope of USLE in relation with the local modification of the length and steepness of the slope between adjacent terraces. Basically, it was simulated the gradual return to the natural morphology of the slope. The results of the analysis showed a significant increase in erosion in relationship with increasing degradation of terraces. Furthermore, it is possible to conclude that the GAEC standard retain terraces is very effective with regard to the primary objective of reducing erosion. A further statistical analysis was performed to test the protective value of terraces against soil erosion in areas where agriculture was abandoned. The analysis was carried out by comparing the specific risk of erosion (Mg . ha-1

This study investigated the determinants of accessibility to formal credit and its effects on living standards from 2010 to 2012 based on dataset of Vietnam Households Living Standards Survey (VHLSS) from the General Statistics Office of Vietnam and support of Eview 7 program. It is evident that average of education level, land area per capita, owned residential area affect is key factors of accessing to credit; meanwhile, average of education level affects the probability to require and amou...

Iron deficiency leading to low hemoglobin concentration (cHb) is a common problem for blood donors as well as for blood banks. A standardized protocol offering iron supplementation based on P-ferritin determination may help to reduce the problem and retain donors. This was a prospective study where 879 blood donors, presenting with cHb at or below the limit of acceptance for donation, were included. The predonation cHb result was read after donation. The donors received 50 iron tablets (JernC or Ferrochel, 100 or 25 mg elemental iron, respectively), and samples for P-ferritin, mean corpuscular volume, and control of cHb were secured. Based on a P-ferritin level of less than 60 microg per L, 20 iron tablets were offered after all following donations. Mean cHb was 7.6 mmol per L (122 g/L) and 8.2 mmol per L (132 g/L) in women and men, respectively. In 80 percent of the women and 48 percent of the men, iron stores were low (P-ferritin protocol offering iron supplementation and simple oral and written advice based on P-ferritin measurements is effective in normalizing cHb and retaining donors presenting with cHb at or below the limit of acceptance for donation.

Full Text Available Background: Tobacco smoking is more prevalent among the elderly than among the young, and the elderly also have the most frequent contact with the health care system. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Gold Standard Program, which is an intensive six-week smoking cessation program, on continuous self-reported abstinence rates after six months, on participants over the age of 60 years in a real life setting. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study from the national Danish smoking cessation database. Results: The database registered 7369 participants over the age of 60 years (range 60–82 and 24,294 below 60 years (range 15–59. Continuous abstinence rate after six months was 37% for the elderly compared to 35% for the younger (p < 0.05. The significant variables for continuous abstinence were: living with another adult (OR 1.10, prior professional recommendation for smoking cessation (OR 1.12, being compliant with program (OR 1.35 and being abstinent at end of course (OR 13.3. Conclusions: Participants over the age of 60 years had significantly higher continuous abstinence rates after six months than the participants less than 60 years. It is never too late for health professionals to recommend and educate patients about smoking cessation programs even if they are over 60 years of age.

The SQUIRE (Standards of QUality Improvement Reporting Excellence) guidelines were developed to improve the reporting of quality improvement (QI) projects. The effect of the guidelines on the completeness of reporting in the QI literature is unknown. Our primary objective was to determine if the completeness of reporting in the QI literature has been improved[OUP_CE13] since the introduction of the SQUIRE guidelines. We performed a before-and-after evaluation of QI articles selected from four prominent journals of healthcare quality. Twenty-five articles published in each of two time periods (2006-2008 and 2010-2011) were confirmed to be QI projects using a standardised definition and were independently evaluated by two investigators as an interim evaluation of a planned larger sample. Articles were assessed using 50 statements of the SQUIRE guidelines, and the overall change in the completeness of reporting between the two groups was determined. The value of pimprovement observed in the completeness of reporting of QI projects after the publication of the SQUIRE guidelines, and the study was stopped early. There is potential for improvement in reporting standards, particularly for those guideline items or statements specific to QI projects. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

... Effective Date for the Water Quality Standards for the State of Florida's Lakes and Flowing Waters AGENCY... State of Florida's Lakes and Flowing Waters; Final Rule'' (inland waters rule) for ninety days to June 4, 2012. EPA's inland waters rule included an effective date of March 6, 2012 for the entire regulation...

Standard setting (the process of establishing minimum passing scores on high-stakes exams) is a highly evaluative and policy-driven process. It is a common belief that standard setting panels should be diverse and representative. There is concern, however, that panelists with varying characteristics may differentially influence the results of the…

There is growing international concern to regulate and assure standards in higher education. External peer review of assessment, often called external examining, is a well-established approach to assuring standards. Australian higher education is one of several systems without a history of external examining for undergraduate programmes that is…

...) (i)(A) Subject to the exclusions in paragraph (n)(6)(ii) of this section, the standards specified in... exclusions in paragraph (n)(6)(ii) of this section, the standards specified in this section shall apply to... be packaged to include the lamps described in clause (i) with the ceiling fan light kits. (t...

In this research the standard design of clearing limit was determined based on soil texture and hillside gradient. ... clearing limit as well as the difference between standard and existing trees stock growth in different slope classes and soil ..... clearings on movement patterns of understory rainforest birds in central Amazonia.

The catch-up process of emerging market economies is dependent on multiple factors, such as local governmental regulations but also global industry developments. We investigate how intellectual property (IP) protection standards affect this catch-up process. The alignment of these standards...

The catch-up process of emerging market economies is dependent on multiple factors, such as local governmental regulations but also global industry developments. We investigate how intellectual property (IP) protection standards affect this catch-up process. The alignment of these standards...

To study the effects of continuous veno-venous hemofiltration (CVVH) with high cut-off filters (CVVH-HCO) on plasma cytokine levels, sieving coefficient and clearance compared to CVVH using standard filters (CVVH-Std) in a nested cohort within a double-blind randomized controlled trial in severe acute kidney injury (AKI) patients. We measured plasma and post-filter levels of IL-6, TNF-alpha, IL-8, IL-1 beta, RANTES, IL-10, IFN-gamma and IFN-alpha in both study groups. We also measured cytokine levels in the ultrafiltrate and calculated sieving coefficients and clearances. By 72 hours of treatment, IL-6 had decreased during both treatments (p = 0.009 and 0.005 respectively). In contrast, IL-10 had decreased with CVVH-Std (p = 0.03) but not CVVH-HCO (p = 0.135). None of the other cytokines showed changes over time. There were also no significant between group differences in plasma levels for each cytokine over the 72-hour treatment period. For all cytokines combined, however, the median sieving coefficient was higher for CVVH-HCO (0.31 vs. 0.16; p = 0.042) as was the mass removal rate by ultrafiltration (p = 0.027). While overall combined cytokine levels had fallen to 62.2% of baseline at 72 hours for CVVH-HCO (p<0.0001) and to 75.9% of baseline with CVVH-Std (p = 0.008) there were no between group differences. CVVH-HCO achieved greater combined sieving coefficient and mass removal rate by ultrafiltration for a group of key cytokines than CVVH-Std. However, this effect did not differentially lower their plasma level over the first 72 hours. Our study does not support the use of CVVH-HCO to lower cytokines in critically ill patients with AKI.

The catch-up process of emerging market economies is dependent on multiple factors, such as local governmental regulations but also global industry developments. We investigate how intellectual property (IP) protection standards affect this catch-up process. The alignment of these standards...... with the country’s level of innovation capabilities set the framework for the study. We use patent data from the United States Patent Office and compare the catch-up process of Brazil, India and Turkey based on the countries implementation of TRIPS regulations. We find that countries with a gradual implementation...... of IP protection standards gain a higher level of innovation capabilities compared to countries that immediately ratify the standards. These countries require more time to catch-up to global standards as a misalignment of IP protection and innovation capabilities is evident....

Background: Over 90% of antibiotics for human use in Europe are prescribed in primary care. We assessed the congruence between primary care treatment guidelines for skin infections and commensal Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) antimicrobial resistance levels in community-dwelling persons. Methods:

Background: Over 90% of antibiotics for human use in Europe are prescribed in primary care. We assessed the congruence between primary care treatment guidelines for skin infections and commensal Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) antimicrobial resistance levels in community-dwelling persons. Methods:

In recent years, the voluntary over-the-counter (OTC) carbon market has reached a significant market volume. It is particularly interesting for forest mitigation projects which are either ineligible in compliance markets or confronted with a plethora of technical and financial hurdles and lacking market demand. As the OTC market is not regulated, voluntary standards have been created to secure the social and environmental integrity of the traded mitigation projects and thus to ensure the quality of the resulting carbon credits. Building on a theoretical efficiency-legitimacy framework, this study aims to identify and analyse the characteristics and indicators that determine the efficiency and organisational legitimacy of standards for afforestation/reforestation carbon projects. All interviewed market actors consider third-party certification and standards as a crucial component of market functionality, which provide quality assurance mechanisms that reduce information asymmetries and moral hazard between the actors regarding the quality of carbon credits, and thus reduce transaction costs. Despite this development, the recent evolution of many new and differing standards is seen as a major obstacle that renders it difficult for project developers and buyers to select an appropriate standard. According to the interviewed experts the most important legitimating factors of standards are assurance of a sufficient level of quality of carbon credits, scientifically substantiated methodological accounting and independent third-party verification, independence of standard bodies, transparency, wide market acceptance, back-up of the wider community including experts and NGOs, rigorous procedures, and the resemblance to the Afforestation/Reforestation (A/R) CDM due to its international policy endorsements. In addition, standards must provide evidence that projects contribute to a positive social and environmental development, do no harm as a minimum requirement and build a

Full Text Available Abstract Background In recent years, the voluntary over-the-counter (OTC carbon market has reached a significant market volume. It is particularly interesting for forest mitigation projects which are either ineligible in compliance markets or confronted with a plethora of technical and financial hurdles and lacking market demand. As the OTC market is not regulated, voluntary standards have been created to secure the social and environmental integrity of the traded mitigation projects and thus to ensure the quality of the resulting carbon credits. Building on a theoretical efficiency-legitimacy framework, this study aims to identify and analyse the characteristics and indicators that determine the efficiency and organisational legitimacy of standards for afforestation/reforestation carbon projects. Results All interviewed market actors consider third-party certification and standards as a crucial component of market functionality, which provide quality assurance mechanisms that reduce information asymmetries and moral hazard between the actors regarding the quality of carbon credits, and thus reduce transaction costs. Despite this development, the recent evolution of many new and differing standards is seen as a major obstacle that renders it difficult for project developers and buyers to select an appropriate standard. According to the interviewed experts the most important legitimating factors of standards are assurance of a sufficient level of quality of carbon credits, scientifically substantiated methodological accounting and independent third-party verification, independence of standard bodies, transparency, wide market acceptance, back-up of the wider community including experts and NGOs, rigorous procedures, and the resemblance to the Afforestation/Reforestation (A/R CDM due to its international policy endorsements. In addition, standards must provide evidence that projects contribute to a positive social and environmental development, do

Background In recent years, the voluntary over-the-counter (OTC) carbon market has reached a significant market volume. It is particularly interesting for forest mitigation projects which are either ineligible in compliance markets or confronted with a plethora of technical and financial hurdles and lacking market demand. As the OTC market is not regulated, voluntary standards have been created to secure the social and environmental integrity of the traded mitigation projects and thus to ensure the quality of the resulting carbon credits. Building on a theoretical efficiency-legitimacy framework, this study aims to identify and analyse the characteristics and indicators that determine the efficiency and organisational legitimacy of standards for afforestation/reforestation carbon projects. Results All interviewed market actors consider third-party certification and standards as a crucial component of market functionality, which provide quality assurance mechanisms that reduce information asymmetries and moral hazard between the actors regarding the quality of carbon credits, and thus reduce transaction costs. Despite this development, the recent evolution of many new and differing standards is seen as a major obstacle that renders it difficult for project developers and buyers to select an appropriate standard. According to the interviewed experts the most important legitimating factors of standards are assurance of a sufficient level of quality of carbon credits, scientifically substantiated methodological accounting and independent third-party verification, independence of standard bodies, transparency, wide market acceptance, back-up of the wider community including experts and NGOs, rigorous procedures, and the resemblance to the Afforestation/Reforestation (A/R) CDM due to its international policy endorsements. In addition, standards must provide evidence that projects contribute to a positive social and environmental development, do no harm as a minimum

This paper describes the background, principles, concepts and methods of framing the technical regulation for edible safety requirement and assessment of agricultural genetically modified organisms (agri-GMOs) for Shenzhen Special Economic Zone in the People's Republic of China. It provides a set of systematic criteria for edible safety requirements and the assessment process for agri-GMOs. First, focusing on the degree of risk and impact of different agri-GMOs, we developed hazard grades for toxicity, allergenicity, anti-nutrition effects, and unintended effects and standards for the impact type of genetic manipulation. Second, for assessing edible safety, we developed indexes and standards for different hazard grades of recipient organisms, for the influence of types of genetic manipulation and hazard grades of agri-GMOs. To evaluate the applicability of these criteria and their congruency with other safety assessment systems for GMOs applied by related organizations all over the world, we selected some agri-GMOs (soybean, maize, potato, capsicum and yeast) as cases to put through our new assessment system, and compared our results with the previous assessments. It turned out that the result of each of the cases was congruent with the original assessment.

Due to the rising use of mineral N fertilizers and legume use in agriculture, the input of reactive N into the global N cycle has dramatically increased. Therefore new agricultural techniques that increase N use efficiency and reduce the loss of soil mineral N to surface and ground waters are urgently required. Pyrogenic carbon (biochar) produced from biomass may be used as a beneficial soil amendment to sequester carbon (C) in soils, increase soil fertility in the long term, and reduce environmental pollution such as nitrate leaching or N2O emissions. However, reduced nitrate leaching is not a constant finding when using biochar as a soil amendment and the mechanisms are poorly understood. To investigate if biochar is able to reduce nitrate pollution and its subsequent effects on soil and aquatic fauna, we conducted a series of experiments using standard ecotoxicological test methods: (1) the collembolan reproduction test (ISO 11267 (1999)), (2) the earthworm reproduction test (ISO 11268-2 (1998)), (3) the aquatic Daphnia acute test (ISO 6341 (1996)) and (4) a seedling emergence and growth test (ISO 11269-2 (2006)) also involving leaching events. For the tests grapewood biochar produced with a Kon-Tiki kiln (600-700°C) was used which had previously demonstrated nitrate capture; terrestrial tests were carried out with loamy sand standard soil 2.2 (LUFA-Speyer, Germany). The tests included the factors: (A) nitrate addition (using critical values for the test organisms) or no nitrate addition, (B) control (no biochar), pure biochar and organically-coated biochar. In the aquatic test (3), a nitrate amount which caused 50% of the Daphnia-immobilizing toxic nitrate concentration in leachates was applied to the soil or soil-biochar mixtures. Subsequently, soils were incubated overnight and leached on the next day, producing (in the control) the calculated nitrate concentrations. Daphnids were incubated for 48 hours. Test results without nitrate confirmed that soil

This paper documents an investigation into reports which have indicated that exposure to VHF and UHF band radiation has adverse effects on the frequency stability of HP cesium beam frequency standards. Tests carried out on the basis of these reports show that sources of VHF and UHF radiation such as two-way hand held police communications devices do cause reproducible adverse effects. This investigation examines reproducible effects and explores possible causes.

Smoking is considered the most important preventable risk factor in relation to the development of complications during pregnancy and delivery. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an intensive 6-week gold standard programme (GSP) on pregnant women in real life.......Smoking is considered the most important preventable risk factor in relation to the development of complications during pregnancy and delivery. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an intensive 6-week gold standard programme (GSP) on pregnant women in real life....

Early hip osteoarthritis in dancers could be explained by femoroacetabular impingements. However, there is a lack of validated noninvasive methods and dynamic studies to ascertain impingement during motion. Moreover, it is unknown whether the femoral head and acetabulum are congruent in typical dancing positions. The practice of some dancing movements could cause a loss of hip joint congruence and recurrent impingements, which could lead to early osteoarthritis. Descriptive laboratory study. Eleven pairs of female dancer's hips were motion captured with an optical tracking system while performing 6 different dancing movements. The resulting computed motions were applied to patient-specific hip joint 3-dimensional models based on magnetic resonance images. While visualizing the dancer's hip in motion, the authors detected impingements using computer-assisted techniques. The range of motion and congruence of the hip joint were also quantified in those 6 recorded dancing movements. The frequency of impingement and subluxation varied with the type of movement. Four dancing movements (développé à la seconde, grand écart facial, grand écart latéral, and grand plié) seem to induce significant stress in the hip joint, according to the observed high frequency of impingement and amount of subluxation. The femoroacetabular translations were high (range, 0.93 to 6.35 mm). For almost all movements, the computed zones of impingement were mainly located in the superior or posterosuperior quadrant of the acetabulum, which was relevant with respect to radiologically diagnosed damaged zones in the labrum. All dancers' hips were morphologically normal. Impingements and subluxations are frequently observed in typical ballet movements, causing cartilage hypercompression. These movements should be limited in frequency. The present study indicates that some dancing movements could damage the hip joint, which could lead to early osteoarthritis.

Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation from dilute exhaust from 16 gasoline vehicles was investigated using a potential aerosol mass (PAM) oxidation flow reactor during chassis dynamometer testing using the cold-start unified cycle (UC). Ten vehicles were equipped with gasoline direct injection engines (GDI vehicles) and six with port fuel injection engines (PFI vehicles) certified to a wide range of emissions standards. We measured similar SOA production from GDI and PFI vehicles certified to the same emissions standard; less SOA production from vehicles certified to stricter emissions standards; and, after accounting for differences in gas-particle partitioning, similar effective SOA yields across different engine technologies and certification standards. Therefore the ongoing, dramatic shift from PFI to GDI vehicles in the United States should not alter the contribution of gasoline vehicles to ambient SOA and the natural replacement of older vehicles with newer ones certified to stricter emissions standards should reduce atmospheric SOA levels. Compared to hot operations, cold-start exhaust had lower effective SOA yields, but still contributed more SOA overall because of substantially higher organic gas emissions. We demonstrate that the PAM reactor can be used as a screening tool for vehicle SOA production by carefully accounting for the effects of the large variations in emission rates.

Although the adoption of fuel economy standards has induced fuel savings in new motor vehicles, there are arguments against standards and in favour of fuel tax increases because the latter may have lower welfare costs. We therefore attempted to analyze the impact of standards and fuel prices in the fuel consumption of new cars with the aid of cross-section time series analysis of data from 18 countries. To our knowledge, this study is the first one that attempts to explore econometrically this issue at an international level. We built an unbalanced panel comprising 384 observations from the US, Canada, Australia, Japan, Switzerland and 13 EU countries spanning a period between 1975 and 2003. We specified a dynamic panel model of fuel economy and estimated the model for the whole sample and also for North America and Europe separately. Based on these estimates, we derived three important policy conclusions. Firstly, it seems that if there were no FE standards or voluntary targets in force, transportation energy use would increase more rapidly. Secondly, if CO 2 targets are not to be tightened in Europe, retail fuel prices might have to double in order to attain the currently discussed target of 120 g CO 2 /km in the future. Thirdly, without higher fuel prices and/or tighter FE standards, one should not expect any marked improvements in fuel economy under 'business as usual' conditions. European policy makers might need to consider this issue carefully because some recent European studies tend to be optimistic in this respect

The spatial and seasonal pattern of macrozoobenthic structure and its relationship with environmental factors were studied from July 2006 to April 2008 in Mingzhu Lake, Chongming Island, Shanghai at the Changjiang River mouth. The congruences in water quality bioassessment based on diversity and biotic indices and using different taxonomic categories were also explored to find the best assessment method of water quality for the lake. All major structural characteristics of macrozoobenthic community, including species composition, abundance, biomass and four biomass-based diversity indices (Shannon's diversity, Simpson's diversity, Pielou's evenness and Simpson's evenness index) fluctuated significantly in season but in space. The above four abundance-based diversity indices plus abundance-based Margalef's richness index did not display significant spatial variations; and significant seasonal differences were found in three indices only. Water temperature was the key environmental factor responsible for macrozoobenthic spatio-temporal distribution patterns. Water quality assessed by Shannon's index ( H a') and biological pollution index (BPI) rather than the other four biotic indices were consistent with those by trophic state index (TSI). Results from chironomids and oligochaetes did not always agree to those from the whole community when H a' or Hilsenhoff biotic index was applied to bioassessment. Therefore, combining multiple indices and avoiding a single taxonomic category to assess water quality are strongly recommended and in Mingzhu Lake using a mixture of H a' and BPI will ensure the most effective investigation of water quality. Our results also show that the main structural characteristics of macrozoobenthic communities in the small lake may display consistent spatial patterns.

To investigate the corneal topographic effective optical zone (EOZ) in eyes after wavefront-guided myopic laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) and to compare them with the EOZ after standard LASIK. Retrospective, case-control study. We evaluated the corneal topographic maps of 41 eyes of 25 consecutive patients who had CustomVue LASIK (CV LASIK) and 41 eyes of 23 patients who had standard LASIK with correction up to -7 diopters using the VISX Star S4 laser (VISX Inc, Santa Clara, California, USA). On the refractive map of the Humphrey Topography System, we defined the EOZ as the area outlined by a change of corneal power of 0.5 diopters from the power at the center of the pupil. We analyzed the differences in EOZs of the two ablation patterns and the correlation between EOZ and magnitude of refractive correction. The mean postoperative EOZs were 17.9 +/- 3.7 mm(2) and 11.4 +/- 3.4 mm(2) after CV and standard LASIK, representing 60% and 40% of the laser-programmed optical zones, respectively (both P .05). In eyes with spherical correction (cylinder LASIK increased the preoperative EOZ by 3.8 +/- 5.6 mm(2) (P = .018), whereas standard LASIK decreased EOZ by 4.5 +/- 5.2 mm(2) (P = .005). CV LASIK created larger corneal topographic EOZs than standard ablation. In eyes with spherical correction, the preoperative EOZ was expanded by CV LASIK and reduced by standard LASIK.

Twenty-two college students who were deaf viewed one instructional video with standard captions and a second with expanded captions, in which key terms were expanded in the form of vocabulary definitions, labeled illustrations, or concept maps. The students performed better on a posttest after viewing either type of caption than on a pretest; however, there was no difference in comprehension between standard and expanded captions. Camtasia recording software enabled examination of the extent to which the students accessed the expanded captions. The students accessed less than 20% of the available expanded captions. Thus, one explanation for the lack of difference in comprehension between the standard and expanded captions is that the students did not access the expanded captions sufficiently. Despite limited use of the expanded captions, the students stated, when interviewed, that they considered these captions beneficial in learning from the instructional video.

In the Malawi ART programme, 92% of 250,000 patients are using the standard first-line regime of stavudine-lamivudine-nevaripine. National ART reports indicate Blantyre, Malawi. We determined the prevalence of symptoms that are common side-effects, described discrepancies between symptoms that patients reported to us and those that had been recorded by attending staff as side-effects in the point-of-care electronic monitoring system, and studied factors associated with such discrepancies. Of 170 participants, 75 (44%) reported at least one symptom, most common were symptoms suggesting peripheral neuropathy (n=57) and lipodystrophy (n=16). Forty-six (66%) symptomatic patients said they reported symptoms to attending ART staff. Side-effects were recorded in the clinic database for just 4 patients. Toxicity recording was too low for meaningful analysis of factors associated with discrepancies between reporting and recording of side-effects. The prevalence of symptoms indicating characteristic side-effects of the standard first-line regimen was 39% based on interviews, and 2% in the electronic monitoring system. There was gross under-recording of side-effects in this setting, mainly due to not recording by ART staff. Pressure of work and insufficient perceived benefit of side-effect recording are suspected causes. Local and national ART reports do not reflect the true toxicity of the standard first line regimen.

Decomposition is one of most important ecological steps in organic matter and nutrient cycles, but studies and reliable data from tropical regions in Africa are still scarce. At the global scale, litter decomposition and recycling is controlled by climatic factors and land-use intensity. These factors can be linked to specific ecosystem characteristics along the unique elevation gradient of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Our objectives were to assess the effects of climatic conditions (i.e. elevation) and land-use intensity on C turnover and stabilization and investigated the seasonal variations. Tea-bag Index (see www.teatime4science.org) was used to measure decomposition of a standardized litter substrate by microorganisms and mesofauna warm-dry (December-March), long-rainy (March-July) and cold-dry season (July-September) respectively. Decomposition rates increased from k=0.007 in savanna, up to a maximum of k=0.022 in cloud forest (i.e. mid elevation). The increase was followed by a decrease of 50% in (sub-) alpine ecosystems. Stabilization factors decreased from savanna (S=0.33) to coffee plantations or cloud forest (S=0.11) respectively and strongly increased again to a maximum of S=0.41 in the alpine helichrysum ecosystem. During all seasons, we found the highest decomposition rates at mid elevation. However, during both warm seasons the peak is shifted upslope. Savanna experienced the strongest seasonal variation, with 23 times higher S-values in dry- compared to rainy season. Mean annual k-values increased for about 30% with increasing land-use intensity. C stabilization in Mt. Kilimanjaro ecosystems is strongly dependent on seasonal moisture limitation (lower slope) and perennial temperature limitation (alpine zone). Ecosystems at mid elevation (around 1920 & 2120m) represent the interception zone of optimal moisture and temperature conditions. High input and fast turnover drive the C sequestration in these ecosystems, while restrains on decomposition control the C

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of different standard setting methods on the size and composition of the borderline group, on the discrimination between different types of students and on the types of students passing with one method but failing with another. A total of 107 university students were classified into 4 different types…

This study examined the effects of aligning the "Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL)" English Framework with Bloom's Taxonomy on student achievement. Changes prompted by "No Child Left Behind" legislation increased accountability for student success, as well as mandated testing to determine annual academic growth of all…

... (POHCs) in the waste feed that you specify under paragraph (c)(3)(ii) of this section to the extent... hazardous waste and on their concentration or mass in the hazardous waste feed, considering the results of... waste incinerators that are effective until compliance with the standards under Â§ 63.1219? 63.1203...

... Organic Hazardous Constituents (POHCs) in the waste feed that you specify under paragraph (c)(3)(ii) of... hazardous waste feed, considering the results of hazardous waste analyses or other data and information. (d... waste burning lightweight aggregate kilns that are effective until compliance with the standards under Â...

... Principal Organic Hazardous Constituents (POHCs) in the waste feed that you specify under paragraph (c)(3... in the hazardous waste feed, considering the results of hazardous waste analyses or other data and... waste burning cement kilns that are effective until compliance with the standards under Â§ 63.1220? 63...

The study investigated principals' implementation of quality assurance standards and administrative effectiveness in public secondary schools in Edo and Delta States. To guide the study, four research questions and hypotheses were raised. Descriptive research design was adopted for the study and the simple random sampling technique was used to…

This study investigates the psychological effect of a wrong question with wrong items on answering to the next question in a test of structure. Forty students selected through stratified random sampling are given 15 questions of a standardized test namely a TOEFL structure test in which questions number 7 and number 11 are wrong and their answers…

The purpose of this qualitative case study is to examine the perceptions of teachers and curriculum specialists over the effectiveness of professional development and available resources of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) implementation process in Arkansas. Arkansas divided the implementation process into three stages: Phase I implemented…

This study examines the effects of the basic wage rate, standard working hours and unionisation on paid overtime work in Britain using individual-level data from the New Earnings Survey over the period 1975-2001. For this purpose we estimate a panel data model. We show that to obtain consistent